Great Olympics split points with Karela United in Accra

The desire of Accra Great Olympics to continue their winning spree after defeating Inter Allies 2-0 in Tema last week could not materialise as they shared the points in a goalless drawn game with visiting Karela United at the Accra Sports Stadium last Saturday.

While the visitors were impressive, especially in the first half, it was the wood work that denied them from taking an early lead as top scorer in the league, Diawusie Taylor’s volley in the first minute grazed the crossbar despite goalkeeper Saed Salifu wrong footed.

Diawusie’s show

Diawusie had combined effectively with Kwame Boateng with the latter going past his marker before floating a beautiful volley over the Olympics defenders who had surged forward. But to the dismay of a few fans who jumped on their feet to celebrate, the ball bounced off the post back into play to the relief of the host.

Undaunted by the misfortune, Karela continued to push their attackers forward with Diawusie, who has eight goals in the league so far, Boateng and Richard Berko forcing the Olympics defenders to retreat.

Olympics’ Philip Nii Kojo Sackey, Ebenezer Sekyere, Haruna Jamel Deen and Kasim Razak helped to soak the pressure at the rear with skipper Gladson Awako often retreating to help in the defence.

Preko’s impact

This occasionally drew the fury of stop-gap coach, Yaw Preko, who would jump out of the dug out to shout instruction. It yielded positive response from his players who mounted occasional counter attacks but the resolute Karela defence held them in check.

Both teams returned after recess more determined to break the deadlock, however it was Olympics who looked more business-like as they combined beautifully upfront and kept the Karela defenders chasing their shadows.

Incidentally, it was Karela goal poacher, Diawusie, who almost stole the show in the 78th minute when he took charge of the ball in the box and dashed past two defenders before releasing a shot which narrowly missed the target.