A former player of Wimbledon Football Club of England, John Fashanu, on Saturday in Abuja blamed Super Eagles 1-1 draw with the Pharaohs of Egypt on players professional misconduct.

The draw was in a match day three fixture in the 2017 AFCON Qualifiers on Friday at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.

The result left the Eagles with five points, two behind group leaders Egypt who have seven points, and just one above third-placed Tanzania who have four points.

Fashanu told NAN, on the sidelines of an exercise tagged “Walk Against Crime , organised as part of activities to mark the 2016 Police Week, that the players should be blamed.

While pointing out that the draw was not a good result for hosts Nigeria, he said it was careless of the players to concede such a late goal.

“Playing a match at home should give us a 1-0 head start. This is our home. Let no one come to our home and take over.

“It was a careless unprofessional goal given away in the dying seconds,” the former member of the then Nigeria Football Association board said.

“I think the players let themselves down because it should have been a wonderful celebration for us, he added.

Fashanu said the Eagles could bounce back to reckoning in the qualifiers, but acknowledged that it would be a big mountain to climb on Tuesday in Alexandria.

“We have a real mountain to climb in Egypt. Look at their home record, their home matches. It is going to be a tough game,” he said.

Fashanu however hailed the efforts of the teams interim coach, Samson Siasia.

“Siasia is giving a new initiative to football in this country and I believe in him and I think he will do very well,” he said.