After a difficult away leg, where we were unlucky to have lost 2-0, North Korea knocked us out of the Asian Cup. In our home game at the Nehru Stadium the Koreans scored an equaliser five minutes from the end to steal a 1-1 draw, giving them a 3-1 aggregate victory.

In the home tie it really looked like we were in a chance of turning things around. Our veteran striker, I.M. Vijayan scored the opener in the 29^th minute leaving us needing a second goal to push the tie into extra-time.

But the Koreans got the equalising goal from Choe Hyun-yu in the 85th minute.

North Korea will now meet Iran, Jordan and Lebanon in Group D of the Asian Cup Qualifying Preliminary round.

I leave India on 1 April to take our U-23s to play in the pre-Olympic qualifiers against Turkmenistan. This will be another real test for our lads and hopefully we can get a result there to leave us well placed for the second leg in Goa on the April 19.

As always thank you for your many emails and the support that so many of you have offered.

Best wishes

Stephen