Kumasi Asante Kotoko recorded their first victory of the season, beating Accra Lions 1-0 yesterday at the Accra Sports stadium in their betPawa match day four game.
Substitute,KaloOuattara,came off the bench to head home on the 97th minute to send the ‘Fabulous’ army into wild jubilation.
Kotoko started the game on the front foot with danger man, Steven Mukwala, missing target with his seventh minute header.
The hosts’ tactical approach to the game was to soak pressure and catch the visitors on the break but Kotoko went with a man-marking approach.
The game was reduced to a training session as the Lions sat back and passed among themselves to tease out their opponents.
On 23 minutes, the hosts caught Kotoko on the break but an indecisive Sadat Seidufailed to beat goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim in Kotoko’s post.
Kotoko’s Richmond Lamptey tested the Lions goalkeeper, Daniel Afful, who stretched to parry the strike over the goal line on 27 minutes.
After the break, a defensive mishap saw Kotoko’s Peter Acquah presented with a fine opportunity for the opener but his beautiful curler was saved by Afful.
Following substitutions from the two benches, the energy in the Kotoko midfield was revitalised with the presence of Justice Blaygiving the Reds an edge over the Lions.
Substitute,Ouattara, went agonisingly close to grabbing the opener from a Nana Banyin Amoah cross on 85 minutes but he missed that glorious chance.
Three minutes later in a similar position, he nodded over the bar a free kick from Lamptey.
With eight minutes time added on, Lions almost won it but substitute, Frederick Asante, who was presented with arguably the best chance of the afternoon by Remember Boateng in the box, failed to control the ball, allowing the Kotoko defence to clear the ball.
In what looked like a final attempt at goal, Sherif Mohammed crossed the ball into the area and met the head of Ouattara to nod home for the Asanteman Warriors.
The defeat means Accra Lions have lost their unbeaten run in the league while Kotoko moved from the bottom to 10th position on the log.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
