Berekum Chelsea caused an upset with 10 men when they beat Kumasi Asante Kotoko 1-0 in their week 30 match of the Ghana Premier League, at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, yesterday.
It was a match that saw the ‘Red Army’ doing every possible thing to win but Chelsea showed their tough character. The visitors,in fact, started strongly from the blast of the whistle and were set out to frustrate Kotoko as they restricted the hosts to a few chances.
They expressed themselves well with Justice Owusu threading sublime passes as he marshalled the midfield, while Kofi Owusu regularly frustrated Kotoko’s rearguard.
Owusu, after picking a pass from Justice Owusu,wasted the team’s best first half chance to score as he fired wide after goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad appeared to have left his goal vacant in the third minute.
There were several half-chances with Frank Etouga Mbella drilling into the side net after he floated an effort that was pushed into play by goalkeeper Gregory ObengSekyere in the 30th minute.
In the 35th minute, Stephen Amankona, messed up a beautiful chance while George Mfegue also failed to connect another golden opportunity with only the keeper to beat in the 42nd minute.
Both teams turned it up a notch after the break and it was Kotoko that nearly benefited but Frank Etouga’sheader was parried over the bar by the keeper in the 53rd minute.
Disaster hit the visitors when Kofi Owusu was red carded for hitting Christopher Nettey during a melee over a throw-in in the 67th minute.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Chelsea attacked and had the result as substitute Kelvin Obengdrove through the defence of Kotoko to place the ball into the net in the 78th minute.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE,KUMASI