Kotoko Hold Black Satellites

Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the National Under-20 team, the Black Satellites last Wednesday treated football fans who thronged the Accra Sports Stadium to 72 minutes of scintillating and enthralling football that saw neither of the sides hitting the back of the net before the first batch of the club's contingent left for Cairo aboard a Swiss International Airline.

Although Kotoko, the side with an immediate assignment could not find the net, most of its followers who witnessed the game were beside themselves with satisfaction after seeing their players display swiftness long seen of the team on the ball.


The swift play by the Porcupine Warriors did not take long to manifest in their game after referee Ebenezer Ferguson whistled for the commencement of friendly hostilities.


Players of Kotoko immediately strung their passes together and inched into the area of the Satellites with the ball still glued to their feet while drawing deafening applause from the dominant Kotoko fans among the sparse crowd at the stadium.


As if it was prearranged, both sides reduced the game to a midfield action with Kotoko still on top, drawing rings around the Satellites who paraded three Kotoko players namely: William Thompson, Edmund Owusu Peprah and John Acheampong and master dribbler, Stephen Oduro, as always, was in the thick of affairs ably supported by skipper Godwin Ablordey.


Not much was seen of shooting in the first half but the fluidity of the game provided some excitement for spectators.

The match, which was short on goals was rather rich in yellow cards as Joe Sam, Daniel Acquah and William Thompson found space in the book of referee Ferguson. The Kotoko players exhibiting some good play, ran into empty spaces and played with some great cohesion from defence through midfield to attack and in the 32nd minute, Nana Arhin Duah centred well for Stephen Oduro after dealing with two defenders but the midfielder's fiercely driven shot from the left foot lacked direction.


In the 35th minute, Oduro embarked upon a dribbling session, meandering his way through the defence of the Black Satellites but just when he readied to lay a pass to a mate, he was whacked down for a free kick at the edge of the box. The free kick, which he effected, however, ran straight into the human wall of the Black Satellites who also posed occasional threats to the Porcupine Warriors. The second half resumed with Kotoko effecting some changes, having Nana Arhin Duah replaced by Nana Frimpong, Abass Inusah taking the place of Isaac Owusu while Joe Okyere replaced youngster, Kwadwo Poku but the substitutions did little to alter the score line. In the 46th minute, Stephen Oduro who proved so hot for the Satellites to handle cleverly outwitted Imoro Gariba but William Thompson was on hand to block his final delivery. With both sides still trying to outdo the other in terms of scoring, the ball kept moving from one end of the field to the other with the Satellites resorting mostly to counter attacks often initiated by Jonathan Quartey but none of those resulted in anything productive. As the game wore on, skipper Godwin Ablordey was fouled just outside the vital area and the resultant free kick, laden with power, effected by Aziz Ansah flew inches over the bar for a relief to the Black Satellites. Moments after that, the Black Satellites counter attacked and Masaudu Mumuni moved threateningly towards goal but Osei Boateng unhesitatingly came off his mark, clashed with the striker and that marked the end of the game for the two. Moments after receiving some attention, Owusu Agyeman took Mumuni's position while Louis Quainoo replaced Osei Boateng. Michael Osei was caught in a web of indecisiveness when what could best be described as the brightest chance of the day fell to him; he shot a little over the bar much to his own disappointment.


Frank Osei and Kwaku Duah also took over from Michael Osei and Stephen Oduro respectively.


In the 65th minute, the Black Satellites broke loose with Jonathan Quartey as the architect of the move but Michael Ocansey's effort at goal was scuttled by Godwin Ablordey who ran hard to cover up for his defenders and just after that, substitute, Nana Frimpong gave way to back-to-batan, Isaac Boakye who showed flashes of what made him steal the headlines at the African Cup of Nations earlier in the year in Mali.


When Frank Osei nearly struck gold in the 68th minute after the goalkeeper, Alex Agyepong struggled to deal with his well-directed powerful 20-yard free kick and the Satellites reacted swiftly again with Jonathan Quartey in command, but had Godfred Yeboah apply the brakes on him, earning a yellow card in the process, it became clear the match was not going to produce any goal as referee Ebenezer Ferguson brought proceedings to an end with visibility getting bad.