We witnessed another week of pure football in the Ghana Premier League as the various clubs in the top flight engaged each other, producing cracking goals and disappointments across the league centers.
As the league entered week 18 during the weekend with cagey games across the nation, all the top four clubs vying for the league trophy failed to win their respective games.
At the T & A park, CAF Confederations Cup campaigners Medeama came from a goal behind to beat Dreams FC by 2 goals to 1. Aaron Amoah gave the visitors the lead in the last minute of the first half.
Akwesi leveled the scores with a strike from a free kick two minutes after recess only for Emmanuel Owusu Peprah to win the game for the Mauves in the dying minutes of the game.
Medeama finds themselves in 5th but only two points behind leaders Wa All stars.
However, the whole drama in the GPL started on Saturday afternoon in Tema when Asante Kotoko failed to pick maximum points against Inter Allies.
Godwin Ablordey wasn’t too convinced and shared his frustrations after the game.
“The second half, we were down and the wind flow was against us so we just decided to play on the counter attack. They did not that they dominated in the second half. Football is a balanced game, you can play in the first half and somebody can also play in the second half so the end matters. I think I will give the plus to the Inter Allies player who scored.”
Bennett Ofori who has flattered to deceive since joining the reds from Berekum Chelsea gave the away side the lead in the 13th minute of the opening half but Inter Allies came in strong in the 2nd half and deservedly got the equalizer through a Fredrick Yemoah beauty of a strike.
Despite that stunner of a goal, it couldn’t help Allies pick all three points and Jimmy Cobblah blames bad luck for their inability to win games as this.
He said: “We were just unfortunate, this shows that in football, sometimes you need a bit of luck to win and so it was just unfortunate we got a point but the boys played so well.
“The first half we were ahead, you could see we created so many chances, at the midfield we struggled with them. I think our defensive midfielder made a mistake and they took advantage so for me both first half and second half we were ahead but just unfortunate as I said football, it’s just luck sometimes and that is what eluded us,” Cobblah added.
With Kotoko failing to win on Saturday Hearts of Oaks and Aduana had the chance to overtake the Porcupine Warriors on Sunday but the 3rd and 4th placed sides played out a barren draw at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Phobians were dominant in possession but failed to trouble Aduana Stars’ defense.
The patient passing style of play introduced by Coach Sergio Traguil attracted criticism from some fans who enjoyed the direct style of predecessor Kenichi Yatsuhashi.
Aduana coach Cioba Aristicca was satisfied with the point.
“Today I don’t feel good about my strikers because they did not perform great,” the Romanian said. “It’s very good not lose a game, it is a draw, it’s one points for us. I’m happy about this but about the game sometimes Accra Hearts Oak have the control over the game and this is not good for me and not good for my team.”
This is the 2nd competitive game with Sergio Traguil on the bench and like the first one it ended in a draw. The coach could do himself some good and win the next match away to Hasaacas come next weekend but he needs his strikers to come good quickly.
“You can imagine I can’t be happy because when I see my team wasting so many chances it is a problem,” he said. “We are improving in our style of play, we create a lot of chances but we still miss too many. I can’t be happy because today we lost an opportunity to become first in the League; it’s the second time that has happened so I can’t be happy with that.”
Hasaacas themselves will be hoping to return to winning ways having suffered a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Ebusua Dwarfs at the Swedru Park. New Dwarfs coach Prosper Nartey reckons his side were deserving winners.
“Fortunately we have been able to win this match not necessarily winning but tactically the players were discipline, we kept our focus, they thought forward, they moved forward, they played forward so all our plays were direct and virtually that made us to play the entire game in the area of Hasaacas so I’m very happy with the performance today and I think we are able to step it up a bit it will be very good for us,” he said.
League leaders All Stars were held at the Wa Park by defending Champions Ashanti Gold. The home side did everything to score but Fatau Dauda in post for the away side was at his best.
The experienced goalie made sure the game ended in a barren draw. All Stars still maintained their lead on the log as the other contenders also failed to win their respective games.
At the Ohene Ameyaw Park in Takyiman, Baba Mahama was the star of the show scoring the only goal for Techiman City in their narrow win over WAFA.
Bechem United came out victors in the Bono Ahafo derby beating Berekum Chelsea by 2 unanswered goals. Ernest Baffoe and Solomon Mensah got the goals for the home side.
Bottom placed New Edubiase needed an Abdul Wahab 2nd half goal to cancel out a Latif Blessing opener in their 1 all draw against Liberty Professionals. Latif Blessing’s goal on the afternoon was his 10th of the season.
By Thierry Nyann|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3Newsgh
