Apam Secondary School who were walloped 5-0 in their opening match of the five-day VALCO-sponsored SSS soccer tournament, salvaged their image with a 6-5 win on penalties over Tamale Business SSS (Bisco) after the two sides had drawn 1-1 in regulation time on Wednesday.
The rules of the competition states that there ought to be a winner in every match and in case of a drawn game the two sides engage each other in a penalty shootout and the winner credited with two points and the loser with a point.
Four top teams after Tuesday's preliminary rounds would play in the semis on Thursday. Already, defending Champions Aggrey Memorial and Pope Johns have booked their tickets for the next round after the two won their two matches.
However, the other two teams would be known after the OKESS versus Navasco match scheduled later in the day. In a very exciting match, Apam had all the chances to win the match on regulation time but erratic shooting upfront robbed them and had to settle for penalty shootout after their 80 minutes of play.
The two sides who lost their first matches to Pojos moved straight into action from the blast of referee E. R. Biney whistle but were unlucky until the closing stages of the match watched by a handful of spectators.
Toyibu Alhasasan had the brightest chance for Bisco after disposing off his markers but flew the ball over the cross bar with only goalkeeper Charles Armstrong to beat in the 20th minute.
Thomas Frimpong of Apam also had one of the finest opportunities but fired off target at the tail end of the first half. The tempo of the game slumped considerable in the second half and coupled with some lousy refereeing, the excitement was nearly wiped out. The referee lost control of the game and allowed some rough tackles to go unnoticed and but for the yelling of the fans, he would not even have shown the red card to Ayuba Mumuni of Bisco for an off-the--scene incident. Mumuni had hit the
Awudu Adams in the face in an off the ball incident in the 57th minute. The excitement of the game was revived with the introduction of Bisco's Abdulai Alhassan (Taller) whose huge frame and intermittent dashes were delight to watch.
He capped his excellent play with the needed equaliser for Bisco in the 77th minute after George Gyabah had scored for Apam two minutes earlier from a solo effort. During the penalties, John Aboah, John Eduaful, Thomas Frimpong, George Gyabah and Awudu Adamu all scored for Apam while Toyibu Alhassan, Ewudzi Ernest,Tanko Rahman, Mohammed Alhassan, Abdulai Alhassan netted for Bisco. Skipper Issahaka Basit missed the only kick for Bisco.
