High-flying Accra Lions stun Ghana U23 Black Meteors in friendly

Accra Lions extended their impressive pre-season form when they produced an outstanding second-half display to defeat Ghana national U23 side, the Black Meteors, 2-1 in a friendly in Accra on Thursday.

The Division One club, who have been in rampaging pre-season form, handed the Black Meteors the needed tough test for the Africa U23 Championship in Egypt next month.

Accra Lions, filled with talented young players, rallied from a goal down to show the national team why they have been in impressive pre-season form with two second half goals.

The performance of the East Legon-based club exposed the weakness in the Black Meteors side to help coach Ibrahim Tanko fix before they depart for Cairo for the tournament to determine the three countries to represent Africa at the Olympic Games next year.

The Ghana U23 national raced into a first-half through Michael Agbenyenu before substitute Salifu Rauf grabbed the equaliser with a fantastic strike from the edge of the box after a pass from in-form Joseph Amoah.

Amoah hit the winner at the Accra Sports Stadium late in the game when he latched onto a long range pass after racing past the defenders before firing beyond the goalkeeper.

The win is a major success for the young Accra-based club as victory over one of Ghana's national teams will bring attention to their ambitions of developing a great team.

Earlier this month Lions, who are modeling their club to be the most professional in the country, continental raised eye brows when they stunned the 13-time Niger champions Sahel FC.

The Black Meteors are the latest highly-fancied side to fall to Accra Lions following recent wins over top-flight sides Inter Allies, Liberty Professionals, Accra Great Olympics and Sahel FC, who subsequently defeated Accra giants Hearts of Oak.

But this should not mask the fact that Accra Lions have put together a strong team capable of competing at the highest level even though they are playing in the Ghanaian second tier.

Lions have injected their squad with new young players since the turn of the year to replace their players who departed to join various clubs in Europe.

They have recruited new players to invigorate the squad even before the start of the season and are demonstrating early signs of improvement from last term.

If they are to continue this form they will pose serious problems for their opponents in the Division One League when the new season starts.