Ashgold too strong for Oly
A well-drilled Ashantigold side played a determined game to beat Accra Great Olympics 2-1 in a keenly contested Ghana Premier League (GPL) week nine encounter at the Accra Sports Stadium yesterday.
It was a painful sight for the ‘AGOSU’ faithful who had massed up for the first time to see the wondrous act scripted by the Coach Annor Walker led team as government eased restriction on football.
Unfortunately, two strikes from Amos Addae and Yaw Annor, either side of a beautiful strike from Player-of-the-Month contender; Gladson Awako broke hearts of the Wonder Club with a second successive defeat.
Olympics lost 2-1 to Aduana in the previous game without Head Coach Walker who was reported ill.
Without him on the bench for the second time, the fans feared the worst.
Their trepidation was confirmed at the early stages of the game where Olympics appeared shaky, losing possession easily in attacking areas and in the process putting pressure on the defenders.
But when they got their rhythm, they were a delight to watch as Awako, Michel Otou and Razak Kassim dictated play in midfield and sprayed the pitch with beautiful passes.
Their biggest problem was how to penetrate the Ashgold back line as Amos Addae, Ampem Dacosta, Frank Akoto and Appiah McCarthy combined effectively to keep them at bay.
Despite the difficulty, Olympics found a way past the Ashgold defence to open the floodgates in the 16th minute when Awako beat goalkeeper Clottey with a sublime shot from outside the goal area.
It followed a long drive by Jamal Deen Haruna from the Olympics area which was intercepted by Awako who played a ‘one-two’ with Michael Yeboah before rifling home.
Characteristic of Oly, they surrendered possession and allowed the Miners to dictate the pace and threatened on several occasions but Hans Kwofie was not lucky on the afternoon, missing a couple of chances.
On the stroke of half time, Addae benefited from a defence-splitting pass to fire to the wrong side of Olympics keeper, Saeed Salifu for a deserved equalizer.
The Wonder Club was given a rude awakening two minutes into the second half when the Miners snatched the leader through Yaw Annor with goal similar to Awako’s first half strike.
Oly responded well piled pressure on the Miners, making a number of moves in their area but lacked the cutting edge.
They were, however, unlucky when on two occasions referee Clement Kwame ignored penalty claims after Samuel Ashie was tripped by an Ashgold defender in the box and a goal-bound strike appeared to have struck the hand of a defender.
BY ANDREW NORTEY