Ransford Osei scores first goal in FOUR years

Former Ghana youth forward Ransford Osei ended his four-year wait to end his goal drought by scoring in the Finnish top-flight on Saturday.

The 26-year-old had not scored in a competitive game since scoring for Bloemfontein Celtic in March 2012 but came off the bench to net a consolation goal for Rops Rovaniemi in the Finnish Veikkausliiga.

The former FC Twente forward had come off the bench two minutes into the second-half at the Rovaniemen and he made his big impact by scoring his first goal in 66 minutes.

Osei has started just a game for Rops since joining them before the start of the Finnish season while his off-the-bench minutes have been limited to just cameo displays.

For many Ghanaian fans Osei has hugely underachieved his potential regarding the huge promise shown at youth level. His 6 goals for Ghana at the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup was only 1 shy of Nigeria's Macauley Chrisantus who has also gone into oblivion. He won the silver boot award.

He also contributed 4 goals for Ghana as the Black Satellites became the first and only African side to win the FIFA U20 World Cup after lifting the trophy in 2009 in Egypt.

Osei has had spells at Polish side Legia Warsaw, Israeli side Maccabi Haifa, Dutch side FC Twente, South African clubs Celtic and Polokwane City.