Accra Hearts of Oak
The Ghana premier league was at it’s unpredictable best as the tables turned yet again the summit and foot of the league log. Aduana Stars moved level on points with leaders WAFA who are yet to kick a ball in week 21. Bolga All Stars inched closer to relegation as Elmina Sharks and Great Olympics secured vital wins in their bid to survive the drop.
Visiting Ebusua Dwarfs beat Tema Youth by 2 goals to 1 in the weekend’s opener played on Saturday. An early onslaught by Dwarfs yielded as Joseph Esso and Nicholas Gyan put them in a 2 goal lead just under 30 minutes. Yakubu Tawfiq’s goal in the 53rd minute was only a consolation for the home side.
Aduana Stars moved level on points with WAFA after a hard fought win over Liberty Professionals at the Nana Agyeman Badu park. Bernard Arthur cancelled out a Sam Adams opener for Aduana but Bright Adjei restored the lead on 39 minutes to bag all three points.
Ahmed Toure’s spot kick with just over 15 minutes to end proceedings condemned Hearts of Oak to their second defeat on the bounce. It was all heading for a stalemate with chances far and few until Bechem United were awarded a penalty late on.
Berekum Chelsea and Inter Allies settled for a 1 all draw game at the Golden City park. Chelsea missed from the spot in a second consecutive game at home to lose out on securing maximum points.
Lacklustre Bolga All Stars were no match for Elmina Sharks with Sharks cruising to a comfortable 3-1 victory at their own backyard. Felix Addo, Eric Osei and Benjamin Tweneboah got the goals for Elmina Sharks with Latif Aboubakari getting the consolation for All Stars.
It was a near doomsday for Medeama SC at the Baba Yara but for Bismarck Oppong’s late face saving goal. The perennial tough customers for Kotoko at the Baba Yara fell behind early in the game and never recovered. Evans Quao’s opener was consolidated by Ahmed Adams in the 39th minute before Saddick Adams put the icing on the cake in the second half.
Great Olympics made a giant stride in their bid to survive the drop by beating champions Wa All Stars by 2 goals to nil. A goal in either half through Benjamin Arthur and Coffie Bekoe was enough to down the erratic defending champions.
The Squeaky Bumpy Stretch..
Couched by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the squeaky bumpy period is a widely accepted term in football circles depicting that time of the season where the fate of teams are actually decided.
With nine matches to go in the Ghana premier league the stage is set for a photo finish, ushering us into our very own squeaky bumpy time. The stakes will be at an all time high in every remaining fixture as teams will look to either maintain their premier league status or put themselves in pole position to annex the ultimate. Teams at this stage develop the knack to adopt compound eyes just to look beyond their own matches. The arithmetic calculations will begin in earnest if it hasn’t began already. The sheer will to reach certain heights might see fanatics engaging in delusional operations which contradict reality.
Match officials will be key in these moments as their decisions could crown or spell the doom of participating teams. They will be in the spotlight as wild allegations fly over their heads in the dispatch of their duties. The admonition is that these honourable men stand firm and resist all manner of enticement and/or temptations in order not to mar the beauty of the game.
Club officials on the hand must conduct themselves well, be decorous in their utterances and eschew all manner of unsportsmanlike behaviour as the fight for respectable places on the log gets hot.
Teeming fans won’t be left out as they will be at the Centre of all the nervy moments as they will get hot to trot just to ensure their teams thrive in these dangerous times. In all of this we shouldn’t let wild emotions drive us into engaging in acts of hooliganism.
However bumpy it gets keep the squeaks undertone!
