I lack conditioning - Appiah

Accra, Nov 21, GNA- Ghana's Black Stars skipper, Stephen Appiah has attributed his struggling form to lack of conditioning.

"I have to be honest with you. I lacked conditioning because I have just returned from a long lay off and I need to play a lot more to peak. He said his injured knee was okay and that he struggled to find his rhythm because of the lack of match fitness.

Appiah was speaking to GNA after the Black Stars defeated Benin in the final match of the Four Nation tournament at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, Accra, on Wednesday, in which Togo and United Arab Emirates also took part.

He said, "I need more matches to get back my rhythm and I am more than convinced that in no time, I will reach the level you all desire to see."

The affable skipper was playing only his fourth game since returning from several weeks of a knee injury that required surgery. Appiah said he was swimming in joy regarding the character the Stars exhibited in clawing back from 2-0 to thump Benin 4-2 in the finals of the Zenith Four Nations Tourney that ended in Accra on Wednesday. He said "We were almost losing 2-0 at a point but we suddenly turned the game around.

"Character and spirit were our weapons today and we proved that we have a fine team capable of fighting and turning results around. "It is always better to even play ugly and get results than to play beautifully and drop points".

The Fernabache ace scored one of the four goals that enabled the Ghanaians to lift the trophy in the competition that had Togo and the United Arab Emirate also participated.