El-Ahly hold Kotoko

Obuasi, (Ash/R), Aug. 13, GNA -- Kumasi Asante Kotoko failed to consolidate their lead in Group A when they were held to a goalless drawn game by El-Ahly of Egypt in their MTN/CAF Champions League match played at the Obuasi Len Clay Sports stadium.

The result of the match has therefore thrown the chances of the teams in the Group wide open since all the four teams before Sunday's matches were on three points each.


Kotoko who were buoyed by their recent sterling performances against CS Sfaxien, piled up pressure on their opponents right from the referee's blast of the whistle but poor finishing denied them of any goal.


In the fourth minute, El-Ahly's goalkeeper Essam El- Hadari stood between Kotoko and the opening goal when he jumped to tip the ball to corner from Osei Kwame Junior's long range shot but the resultant kick was wasted.

Kotoko from this stage concentrated their build up from the midfield and ventured forward on numerous occasions but the El-Ahly defence-men centred around El-Sayed Islam, Shadi Abdel Halm and Tarek Said Lahman kept their composure and managed to keep the Kotoko strikers at bay. Yusif Alhassan Chibsah came close to scoring for Kotoko in the dying minutes of the first half but his shot missed the posts narrowly with the El-Ahly keeper making another safe grab of Aziz Ansah's header from Nana Arhin Duah's corner kick.


On resumption of the second half, Kotoko brought on Obeng Darko and George Yamoah to replace Nana Duah and Aziz Ansah respectively to beef up their attack but the move failed to change their fortunes as they still found it difficult to find the net in their desperation. Surprisingly both teams, Kotoko and El-Ahly displayed good tactical discipline in all departments of the second half that made it difficult for their strikers to score.


Kotoko, however, should have snatched the three maximum points at stake but Obeng Darko and George Yamoah wasted two clear opportunities in the 85th and 90th minutes to end the match goalless.