Ahli assistant coach Hossam Al-Badri believes defensive lapses have cost his side against Platinum Stars in the CAF Champions League. The South African outfit secured a surprising 2-1 home victory over Ahli in the first-leg of the competition's round of 16. Although Emad Meteb cancelled out Koketso Mmotong's opener for the hosts, Platinum Stars still emerged winners. They were helped by a stoppage-time strike from by Edward Williams, who capitalized on some flimsy defending to fire past Amir Abdul-Hamid. Al-Badri, whose side have recently won a fourth successive Egyptian League title, is unpleased that his men have committed such errors. "Our display was heavily affected by Platinum Stars' lead through a defensive mistake," Al-Badri told the post match press conference. "We managed to level the score but paid for another defensive error towards the end. "We played our normal game but our opponents took advantage of our defensive weakness to beat us." Nevertheless, Al-Badri believes the Champions League runners-up will book their berth in the group stage. "There is another match in Cairo. I'm confident that my players can overcome this deficit and go through." "The match showed some negative aspects of our game that we will try to solve in the upcoming period," he added.
