Kotoko struggle to overcome ten-man Dwarfs

Two-time African champions, Asante Kotoko S/C, laboured to beat a spirited visiting Ebusua Dwarfs 2-1in the Ghana Premier League (GPL) matchday six clash, at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, on Wednesday.

The Porcupine Warriors drew the first blood 39 minutes into the game courtesy Obed Owusu, whose overall sterling performance won win him ‘Man of the Match’ award on the afternoon.

Coach Bashiru Hayford, sensing danger reshuffled his charges, allowing diminutive midfielder, Joseph ‘Bobby Short’ Tagoe and Dennis Nkrumah to play more on the offensive to keep the Kotoko attack at bay.

Dwarfs occasionally made some threatening moves upfront in search of the equalizer, but they lacked the killer instincts to cause any harm to the homers as the first half ended in favour of the homers.

Kotoko looked jittery in defence on commencement of the second half, which was capitalized on by the visitors to level the scoring in the 53rd minute.

It was Dwarfs’ Solomon Gyasi Okudzeto, lurking in the opponents’ goal area, who took advantage of a defensive blunder on the part of Emmanuel Owusu and goalie Felix Annan to fetch the equalizer for his side.

Disaster however struck the visitors lost one of their most trusted midfielders, Albert Gaisie, after he was sent off by referee Prosper Addy for misconduct.

The Porcupine Warriors at this stage threw caution to the wind and went all out to score the winner on 83rd minutes, which came from the foot of Frederick ‘Obinim’ Boateng.

The striker combined effectively with Owusu and Emmanuel Gyamfi to beat advancing Dwarfs’ goalie, Wiredu Mensah.