The British coach speaks to Goal for the first time after the team was knocked out of the club competition by the Congolese side
Gor Mahia coach Steven Polack has admitted the team’s exit from the Caf Confederation Cup was due to having an inexperienced squad.
The Kenyan champions failed to make it to the group stage of the club competition after losing to Daring Club Motema Pembe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.
Gor Mahia had secured a 1-1 draw in the first leg played in Kenya before they lost 2-1 in the return leg staged in Congo.
Speaking to Goal on Tuesday, the British coach has now said he was undone by the lean squad of inexperienced players, some of whom were taking part in the Caf competition for the first time.
“It is not a good position to be here because as a coach I do the best to work with what I have, it not a good position because I and my technical staff have to use what we have and that is the way it is,” Polack told Goal.
“I can’t play somebody if I don’t have someone to play there, I know people are complaining about fullbacks, but whom can I play there? I can only field the players we have, and the team did their best and gave all they could against DC Motema Pembe.
“We have to look at the full picture because we had 15 players to use in Congo and we had players who have no experience playing in the Caf competition and you have to look at the other team also because they had more experienced players and their quality was a little better.
“As I said, the players did all they could and the best was not good enough and on Sunday it was not good enough to help us get the result we wanted.”
Polack also insisted he was not expecting Gor Mahia to exit the competition at the knockout stage.
“The result is not what we wanted,” Polack continued. “We lost the game because they scored two goals and we didn’t score more than two goals, and they qualified.
“With a quality squad, maybe Gor Mahia should have reached the group stage but it not the time to complain now. We have to shift our focus to retaining the league and also winning the FKF Shield Cup.”
Gor Mahia will now return to domestic action with a Kenyan Premier League (KPL) match against Mathare United on Wednesday before they host rivals AFC Leopards in the Mashemeji Derby on Sunday.
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