Goldfields draw at home to Okwawu
Hearts in a hard-fought victory
Great Olympics shock Mine Stars
Accra (Greater Accra) 20 May 2002 - Dansoman-based Liberty professionals, maintained their fifth position on the league table when they defeated Sekondi Hasaacas 2-0, in their seventh week Premier League match played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.
The two goals notwithstanding, the match was below expectations and not fit to be classified as a premier encounter. It was a sluggish match throughout the 90 minutes with a catalogue of faulty passes from both sides, making it appear as though the teams were not prepared for the match.
Liberty, however, were slightly ahead especially in the first half making some few incursions in the visitors goal area but wasted a seventh minute chance through David Mensah who shot over the goal post. In the 11th minute however, midfielder Alfred Nii Larbi opened the scoring for Liberty when he weaved through Hasaacas' defence and volleyed into the net. Larbi unfortunately missed a similar chance 10 minutes later, when his shot scaled over the cross bar.
Back from recess, Hasaacas who appeared to have found their rhythm lifted their game and made some attempts at equalising but poor shooting upfront denied them. Liberty registered their second goal through substitute William Tiero, who lobbed Larbi's through ball into the net. Hasaacas fought back relentlessly to at least redeem a goal but it never materialised until Denu-based class one referee Frank Fudzi brought the game to an end.
GRi…/
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Obuasi (Ashanti Region) 20 May 2002 - Obuasi Goldfields and visiting Okwawu United settled for a goalless drawn game in their seventh week Premier League match played at the Len Clay Stadium Sunday.
Goldfields sold a beautiful game to their fans and created the impression as though they were going to win easily. And though their performance could not produce any goal, it was capped with a superlative show by young goalkeeper Edmund Attah who saved the miners from trouble with a classic save to Okwawu's Asare Nyarko long volley in the dying minutes of the game.
In the 86th minute Nyarko, having spotted the goalkeeper out of his posts, sent a long volley and as the ball was flying into the net, Attah moved backwards and parried the ball over the bar to save his side from defeat.
Both teams played rough game resulting in referee C.M. Atsatsa, pulling his yellow card seven times- two against Goldfields’ Frank Awuah and James Boateng and five against the visitors- Osei Bonsu, Osei-Wire Seth, Edward Acquaye, Asare Nyarko and Nii-Ayi Welbeck.
In the second half, the miners pressurised the visitor but they found the defence hard to break as the mountaineers packed their defence with more men. Against the run of play however, Okwawu nearly caused a sensation in the 86th minute but the chance slipped away.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 May 2002 - League leaders Accra Hearts of Oak recorded a hard-fought 3-2 win over King Faisal in a seventh week league match played at the Accra Sports Stadium. The early dominance of King Faisal paid off in the 20th minute when Kwabena Poku crossed the ball over the defence of Hearts and Kwabena Boateng headed past Eben Dida for the first goal.
Hearts responded positively with their playmaker, Charles Taylor leading the attack and had an opportunity to equalise but Abbey missed the chance in the 31st minute. Two minutes later, Kenneth Sarpong connected a corner kick taken by Taylor for the equaliser.
Taylor again stormed the defensive third of the visitors and was brought down for Takoradi based referee F.K. Mensah to whistle for a penalty, which was converted by Taylor to push Hearts 2-1 up into the break.
Kwabena Boateng again stunned the homesters on resumption when he scored another headed goal, this time, from a pull out by Ibrahim Awal, to put both sides on level terms in the 53rd minute. But Hearts went up again in the 60th minute when Taylor received a pass from Wisdom Abbey and threaded it to Bernard Don Bortey who ran deep into the visitors' area and put the ball beyond the reach of keeper Sam Okyere for the third goal for the Phobians.
Faisal mounted a late pressure on the homesters but missed chance after chance till the referee halted proceedings after only one minute of added time. By this victory, Hearts maintain their lead on the league table with a five-point gap and a total point build up of 21, while their arch rivals, Asante Kotoko who won 1-0 over Power in Kumasi are second with 16 points.
GRi…/
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 20 May 2002 - A 67th minute goal scored by substitute Frank Osei enabled Kumasi Asante Kotoko to beat Power FC 1-0 in their encounter at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The goal brought the teeming supporters of the porcupine warriors who had earlier expressed their dissatisfaction about some of the decisions of Takoradi-based referee Stephen Gyan Otoo on their feet jubilating.
It was skipper Godwin Ablordey who pounced on a loose ball from the centre and raced deep into the vital area of the visitors and in an attempt to shot at goal he was brought down by Ben Yeboah. The referee did not only hesitate to whistle for a foul but also flashed the yellow card on the defender.
Frank Osei, who offered himself for the freekick had his shot hitting the cross bar before deflecting into the net. Power who kicked-off and managed to ward off the numerous attacks of Kotoko made Kotoko supporters to sit on thorns for most of the time yearning for goals.
Ablordey lost a beautiful chance in the 18th minute when instead of shooting lobbed the ball into the waiting hands of the agile goalkeeper of Power. Kotoko who probed for the opener lost begging chances in the 20th and 24th minutes as Samuel Tetteh and Bello Mohammed who resorted to rough play were shown the yellow cards in the 32nd and 44th minutes.
On resumption, Kotoko brought in Frank Osei for Nana Frimpong and Anas Mohammed for Joe Sam to strengthen the attacking machinery. Kotoko did not find the going easy especially upfront and this made their defenders to move up-front and it was during one of such raids that skipper Ablordey was fouled by the aggressive defenders of Power that resulted in the goal.
The homesters replaced Joe Louis with Joe Okyere in the 83rd minute as the visitors also brought on Douglas Nkrumah for Raja Nurudeen in the 84th minute, which nearly paid off but their last minute onslaught was wasted by Ben Yeboah whose powerful shot sailed over the cross bar.
GRi…/
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 20 May 2002 - Suhum Maxbees F/C recorded their first victory since the commencement of the Premier League this year with an emphatic 2-0 victory over visiting B. A. United in their league match played at the Koforidua Sports Stadium.
Maxbees took the lead in the 60th minute through centre forward, Masawudu Mumuni who beat his marker and then went through two defenders of B.A. United before releasing a shot, which deflected on a defenders of B.A. into the net for the first goal.
Masawudu who had earlier on wasted many scoring chances was around again in the 82nd minute when he picked a ball from his half, raced into the B.A. United area, and after a quick two-man interaction with teammate Anthony Appiah, sent a diagonal into the far corner of the net.
B.A. however, have themselves to blame for loosing a match which they could have won if they had taken their chances well.
Bawa Mohammed, their centre forward was the worst offender, wasting golden opportunities in the 25th, 27th and 57th minutes. In the 27th minute, he managed to go through the defence of Maxbees but with only Alex Ansah in the post of Maxbees to beat, he hesitated to enable Maxbees players to cover up.
GRi…/
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Prestea (Western Region) 20 May 2002 - Accra Great Olympics lived to their billing as the ‘Wonder Club’ of Ghana Football when they posted a surprise 1-0 defeat to Prestea Mine Stars at the weekend. Prior to the match Olympics have lost four matches on the trot and had been written off by the bookmakers in Sunday’s encounter as they went away from home.
The first half was characterised by ding-dong affair with near misses from both sides. In the 18th minute Oly’s Amui Quaye had an excellent opportunity to put his side ahead but his power-laden shot missed the upright narrowly.
Back from recess the game pattern did not shift, with Olympics slightly on top. It came as a little surprise therefore as enterprising Amon Neequaye nodded home a float from the right in the 69th minute.
GRi…/
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Bolgatanga (Upper East Region) - Real Tamale United (RTU) maintained their home invincibility when they beat Berekum Arsenals 2-1 in their match played at the Bolgatanga Sports Stadium.
The victors, playing an impressive and entertaining soccer, dominated the early parts of the game but failed to score. In the 46th minute, the trend changed as Bobby Abdul-Rhaman, penetrated the defence of the visitors and shot straight into the net to put RTU 1-0 up.
The homers made it two in the 53rd through Hamza Mohammed. Unfortunately the two-goal lead led to complacency on the part of the RTU players and they took their feet off the accelerator.
Arsenal put their game together in the closing minutes of the match, put mounted pressure to RTU, and in the 76th minute, Seth Antwi connected a long pass into the RTU net for a consolation goal for his side. In Sunyani, the match between Tano Bofoakwa and Dawu Youngsters was rained off. The Ghana Football Association rescheduled the match for Monday.
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Sunyani (Greater Accra) 21 May 2002 - Bofoakwa Tano on Monday beat Dawu Youngsters 2 -1 in their seventh-week premier soccer league match played at the Coronation Park, Sunyani. The match was rained out on Sunday. Half time scores were Bofoakwa 2 Dawu -0.
Bofoakwa kicked off strongly and got an early goal through Charles Benson, whose scissor-kick in the Dawu's vital area beat goalkeeper Anthony Amoaful in the sixth minute. Bofoakwa nearly increased the tally three minutes later but Kwaku Duah, who had only the goalkeeper to beat, shot over the bar.
Let off the hook, Dawu took control of the game and dictated the pace and in the process Paul Ofori playing at centre-forward position but wearing the number 10 jersey, squandered three goal-scoring chances that came his way. In the 35th minute Kofi Asiedu of Bofoakwa attracted the referee's yellow card for rough play.
Bofoakwa came back into the game and in the 42nd minute Captain Abeiku Aikins' left-footer was saved by Dawu's goalkeeper. Keeper Amoaful parried Kofi Asiedu's close-range shot over the bar a two minutes later. However, Benson who played a yeoman's game, scored his second personal goal with a beautiful header from a corners-kick to end the first half 2 - 0 for Bofoakwa.
In the 55th minute Issah Ahmed of Dawu had the yellow card flashed at his face for dissenting. As the game progressed Dawu found their rhythm and succeeded in pulling a goal back in 88th minute to end the match 2 - 1.
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