Hasaacas Ladies, Ampem Darkoa clash for Women’s Premier League title
Hasaacas Ladies and Ampem Darkoa Ladies will once again clash in the final play-off of this season’s Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League after they won their respective zonal leagues which ended on Sunday.
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While Hasaacas Ladies finished as champions of the southern zone after beating Faith Ladies 1-0 in their final match, Ampem Darkoa won the northern zone for the sixth consecutive time after a convincing 5-0 away win against Ashtown Ladies on the Bantama Astro Turf.
Last Saturday’s encounter in Sekondi was very important as the outcome decided the champions of the zone, and it took a goal by Fatoumata Tamboura in the 74th minute to win the day for Hasaacas Ladies.
With the two sides separated by two points, Hasaacas needed a draw to win the title for the seventh time, while Faith needed any win to make history for being champions on their second attempt.
Despite their experience and home advantage, Faith Ladies still posed a threat, having won the first round encounter 1-0 at Dansoman.
The record southern zone and national champions, Hasaacas relied on their experience and ensured they were crowned champions again, courtesy a 74th minute goal by their Burkinabe player, Fatoumata Tamboura.
In one of their moves, Hasaacas earned a corner kick which was well executed and connected home by Tamboura with a powerful header.
It was an important strike which crowned Hassacas Ladies as southern zone champions for the 2022/2023 season and for the eighth time.
For Hasaacas, it was a big relief that they managed to retain the title they first won in the 2012-2013 season. They lost the title in 2017 when they were dethroned by LadyStrikers.
Playoff in Accra
Following their victory, the Sekondi ladies head for Accra to meet northern zone champions, Ampem Darkoa Ladies, for the final play-off – the third consecutive time the two sides will be meeting in the final, having played in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Overall, it will be fifth WPL final playoff between the two sides since they first clashed in 2015 to determine the national champions.
Champions since 2015, Ampem Darkoa retained the title after defeating Ashtown Ladies 5-0 at the Bantama Astro Turf in Kumasi to claim the title and dismiss the challenge from three other title contenders - Pearlpia Ladies, Dreamz Ladies and Ashtown Ladies.
Ophelia Serwaa Amponsah put up a player-of-the match performance as she scored twice (32nd and 75th minutes) as Mary Amponsah (eighth minute), Mabel Amoyaw (55th minute) and Comfort Yeboah (90th minute) scored to ensure victory for Ampem Darkoa to avoid being dethroned by Pearlpia Ladies who also secured a 5-0 victory over Northern Ladies FC in a local derby.
Dreamz Ladies defeated relegated Candy Soccer Academy Ladies 3 -1.
