A highly determined Aduana Stars tam led by their charismatic captain Godfred Saka beat SC Medeama 3-0 in the match day 3 of the G-6 Invitational Tournament played on Saturday afternoon at the Essipong stadium.
Medeama needed only a draw to qualify for the finals as they had already beaten Hearts of Oak 1-0 on Friday. Aduana on the other hand, needed to win at all costs because they had only one point coming into the game, after the played a goalless drawn game against Hearts of Oak on Thursday night.
In the opening minutes of the game, both teams were sizing each other up to see how best and were to attach from. But it was Aduana who came out of their shells to seize dominance of the game.
The likes of Richard Mpong, Godfred Saka, Noah Martey and Yahaya Mohammed were terrorising the defence of the FA Cup champions and it was no surprise when they grabbed the first goal in the 19th minute.
Richard Mpong received a precise pass from Yakubu Mohammed who after displacing and outrunning the Medeama players sent in an intelligent cross into the box which met the onrushing Yahaya Mohammed, and he had no problems slotting home the goal with goalkeeper Muntari Tagoe in dream land.
Medeama took up the challenge and mounted countless pressure on Aduana Stars, and in one those attacks won a penalty after Joseph Gordon was fouled in the penalty box.
Dominic Ashun elected himself to take the kick, but could not get the ball past Aduana Stars goalkeeper Joseph Addo as the kick was punched back into play and evetually cleared to safety.
The first half ended 1-0 in favour of Aduana Stars.
Back from recess Coach Tom Strad of Medeama made two quick changes. Ishmael Hammond and Patrick Opoku were taken out and were replaced by Paul Aidoo and Phillip Philip Aseweh.
It was an end to end stuff then on, until in the 75th minute when Aduana Stars increased the tally to two, with Daniel Darkwah the goalscorer.
SC Medeama fought but could not penetrate the formidable Aduana Stars defence.
When all seemed to heading for a 2-0 win for Aduana Stars, a moment of lack of concentration on the part of Medeama goalkeeper Muntari Tagoe saw them concede a penalty.
Tagoe received a back pass and in he decided to dribble the onrushing Aduana player. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and lost the ball in the penalty box. In a bid to get the ball back, he fouled the player and the referee had no other choice that to whistle for a penalty.
Striker Yahaya Moahmmed scored the goal to end the game 3-0 in favour of Aduana Stars who will be playing against Asante Kotoko in the finals on Sunday afternoon.