Kumasi Asante Kotoko stand-in coach, Michael Osei, led the Porcupine Warriors on the road to recovery when he guided his charges to defeat 10-man Liberty Professionals 3-1 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi yesterday to lift the club from the bottom of the table to the ninth position.
It was not a vintage performance by Kotoko though, but the urgency and the non-stop attack displayed by the players were good enough to send the right signals of Coach Osei to his employers which may put out of favour coach, David Duncan, completely at the back burner.
The result was Kotoko’s first win in three matches and their only second in the eight-match-old competition.
At the Nana Ameyaw Park, Coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi and his players were the toast of Accra Hearts of Oak fans after the Phobians split points with Techiman City FC in a scoreless drawn game.
Techiman City had won all three previous home games but found Hearts unyielding as they earned a valuable point to remain in second position behind Wa All Stars, who opened a three-point lead at the top after defeating Ebusua Dwarfs 1-0 at the Wa Park through Kofi Yeboah’s second half strike.
At the Len Clay Stadium, Dreams FC continued their impressive start with a lone goal victory over defending champions, Ashantigold, at the Len Clay Stadium to finish in third place but tied on points with Hearts.
Developments in the Kotoko camp last week put yesterday’s clash in Kumasi in the spotlight, particularly after the club’s management put Osei in charge of the club’s revival mission.
And riding on the back of last week’s 5-1 annihilation of AshantiGold, Liberty were expected to give Kotoko a run for their money. But the ‘Scientific Soccer’ lads were rather a pale shadow of themselves and had only the second minute individual brilliant goal scored by diminutive striker Latif Blessing to showcase.
Surprisingly, Liberty were completely frozen out after their early goal and kept on the back foot for most of the time as Kotoko, backed by an encouraging home support, took the game to the visitors in search of the equalising goal.
Despite their dominance, Kotoko had to wait till the 22nd minute to cancel the lead through defender Ahmed Adams who rose to head home before striker Duada Mohammed added the second in the 33rd minute.
Kotoko appeared destined to have carried the day on a 2-1 scoreline after several wasted opportunities which had characterised their play since last season, but in the 88th minute, skipper Amos Frimpong converted a spot kick to give them a resounding victory to lift them from the bottom of the table.
A modest caretaker coach Osei refused to take the plaudits for the win. ‘The credit goes to the players; they really played their hearts out and deserve to the win,” he said after the match.
He attributed their victory to a resolve by the players to give of their best to win and salvage some pride rather than a special display of football prowess by his charges.
At the Tema stadium, Inter Allies wallopped a hapless Bechem United 4-0 to ensure that the visitors were without an away win this season.
