‘Eye-red’ Kotoko want revenge against King Faisal
Giant-killers, King Faisal will attempt another giant-killing feat on Kumasi Asante Kotoko when the two sides clash in their top Week 23 Ghana Premier League (GPL) fixture at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium tomorrow.
Faisal has in recent times become a bogey side for Kotoko, snatching the bragging rightsin the first round after beating the Porcupine Warriors in their last two encounters.
Those feats werechalked when the Porcupine Warriors appeared to be on top of their game; for which reason the defeats were considered as some of the major upsets of the season.
Faisal beat Kotoko 3-2 in the first round in December when they appeared practically unstoppable after a frightening start.
But Kotoko woes was compounded by a second Faisal defeatwhich bundled the Porcupine Warriors out from the MTN FA Cup at the round of 32 stage with a 1-0 win in January.
The two will go at each other again in a Kumasi derby that presents the Porcupine Warriors a decent opportunity to exact their pound of flesh on the 10th placed side on the league table.
After a bright start, King Faisal has dropped to the middle ranks of the table with their midweek defeat to Medeama confirming their struggles in the competition.
But they would hope to stage a huge comeback into the top four with a win against Kotoko to boost the team’s morale, ahead of the final stretch.
Faisalwent win-less in the whole of March but would want to halt that trend in the new month.
Kotoko on the other hand are beaming with confidence and are in the right shape to seek revenge and also keep their title ambitions on course.
A win will mark a return to winning ways after a 1-1 frustrating draw with Karela in their last game on Thursday.
With arguably the best attacking pair in the country, currently, in Franck Etouga Mbella and Georges Mfegue Omgba, Kotoko would be a mouthful for King Faisal.
The two Cameroonians have been a great sensation for Kotoko, scoring over 20 goals to power the Porcupine Warriors to the summit of the table.
They would be expected to show up tomorrow to stop King Faisal from causing the third upset of the season.
It promises to be an exciting encounter with fans expected to troop to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium to cheer their teams to victory.
Meanwhile,Accra Hearts of Oak would begin the round of matches today with Medeama in another crunch encounter at the Accra Sports Stadium.
A resurgent Hearts side would be hoping to win in order to climb into the top four as they currently occupy the sixth position of the table.
Medeama on the other hand are just ahead of Hearts on the fifth position with three points separating the two sides, hoping for a win to send them far above the defending champions.
Both teams would be eager to clinch all three points but Hearts would need it most to further boost their confidence after struggling to defeat Elmina Sharks in their MTN FA Cup fixture last Sunday and drawing with Chelsea in midweek.
In other games tomorrow, Bibiani Gold Stars would play at home to Dreams FC while Eleven Wonders face off with Accra Lions in Techiman.
At Sogakope, WAFA would square off with Aduana Stars while Karela battle it out with Elmina Sharks in another mouthwatering encounter.
At the El-Wak Sports Stadium, Legon Cities would come against AshantiGold while the matches between RTU and Berekum Chelsea and Bechem United against Great Olympics are scheduled for Monday.
BY MICHAEL D. ABAYATEYE
