Police FC striker Elijah Ani says his side could have defeated CS Constantine and possibly qualified for the next round of the 2024/25 CAF Confederation Cup had they remained focused during the second leg encounter in Kigali.

Police dominated the game in the half hour mark of the second leg tie as the Nigerian striker gave them a 1-0 lead to restore hope for a comeback from their 2-0 deficit in Algeria a week before. They, however, went on to sleep as the visitors scored twice through Zakaria Benchaa and Mounder Termine to win the game of the day.

"We were in control of the game during the first 30 minutes, we had a game plan to get an early goal which we fought hard for and we got it,” a visibly disappointed Ani told Times Sport.

"We could have been far better if we concentrated more. We played against a big and very experienced side on the continent, so we needed to do more than our best, which we failed to do,” he added.

Police will now have to quickly put their early CAF Confederation Cup elimination aside and turn focus on the Rwanda Premier League and Ani, who was the joint top scorer for last season, said with optimism that his side put up a fight to win the title.

"Now that we are out of the continental competition. There’s only one arena to place all our chips which is in the league," he said.

Police FC will travel to the Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu on Wednesday, August 28 to play as guests to Etincelles FC in their rescheduled match day 1 league game.