Gambian champions Fortune FC run out of luck in Algeria

Fortune goalkeeper on the floor as they succumbed to a Setif onslaught

In one of the biggest shocks of the qualifying rounds for this year's CAF Champions League qualifiers, Gambian football champions fortune FC beat former African champions AS Setif of Algeria by three goals to nothing in their first leg match a week ago but to win the tie on aggregate and progress to the next stage of the African competition, the Gambians needed to avoid defeat by a similar or larger margin in Algeria where the second leg took place on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Fortune threw it all away. Victory was thoroughly deserved by the hosts, as they dominated for large parts coupled with the benefit of a second half sending off for the visitors. There was no real pattern to Fortune’s play and eventually their continual concession of possession was punished.

By the 68th minute the Algerian club had gone 3-0 ahead to cancel out their deficit from the previous weekend in Bakau.

However, Fortune somehow managed to cling on until full time with little action in the Setif half for the reminding 20 minutes of regulation time. The match headed straight to penalty shootouts where the visitors handed the North Africans a ticket to the next round. 5-4 it ended after a series of class shootouts saw all previous nine kicks being rattled away except for Fortune’s last shot which completely went off target.

The bad omens for the completely opposite named Fortune FC meant destiny denied once again as no Gambian club has ever successfully managed to go past the preliminary stages of CAF Campions League – African club football’s most prestigious competition.

The club’s social media team posted after the game: “An experience gained, and a lesson learned.  It is the end of this journey but not the last drop of our winning desire!. Head up, boys. We are proud of you all!”