Coach Aliyu Zubair attributed his team's lacklustre performance to match rustiness stemming from the absence of high-level games.

El Kanemi Warriors struggled to score against their Beninoise opponents in Ikenne on Saturday during their CAF Confederation Cup Preliminary Round first-leg tie.

The Borno Warriors wasted a couple of chances, and it was a 95th-minute header from substitute Gimba Ajiji rescued the Nigerian side from a losing start in their continental assignment.

Coach Zubair's reflection

Coach Aliyu Zubair attributed his team's lacklustre performance to match rustiness stemming from the absence of high-level games.

The Warriors last played a competitive match in July, and their inability to participate in a pre-season tournament due to nationwide protests further hindered their preparation.

"You cannot start evaluating your team with a competition proper, no matter how lowly-rated the competition is. You will need to evaluate your team with matches such as the pre-season.

"It is the best avenue to evaluate your team, not until you come to a competition proper before you start evaluating. Definitely, I think that was what actually affected the team."

The coach continued, "The time we were supposed to come out for a pre-season tournament, that was when the protest started in the country. And His Excellency, the governor said no that they should not risk any player going out of the state, that was why we could not go.

"Not until the 10th of August when they stop the protest before we came out and by that time, the match was close and we had no opportunity to play any friendly. So certainly, inability to play any friendly to prepare really showed in our game negatively."

Despite the unconvincing scoreline, Coach Zubair remains optimistic, promising that his team will work on their mistakes, particularly in conversion, ahead of the reverse fixture next week.