Coach Johnson Smith led Asante Kotoko to pick their second premier league away win of the 2020/2021 season after beating Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs by a lone goal at the Cape Coast sports stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a week seven outstanding match of the ongoing Ghana Premier League (GPL) in Cape Coast, and the Porcupine Warriors proved too strong for Dwarfs to handle as they handed coach Ernest Thompson’s side their third defeat of the current GPL campaign.
The first half produced a seeming balanced exchanges between the two sides, but the visitors looked much determined. The Porcupine Warriors came close in the as early as the 3rd minute when left back Imoro Ibrahim went straight with a free kick close to the Dwarfs box, but the goal keep spilled the ball out, taking a second attempt to finally have a grab of the ball.
Ebusua Dwarfs, despite the pressure from Asante Kotoko was resolute and kept the game on level till the 31st minute when Mubarik Yussif put his came with a powerful header from a long drive from the Dwarfs defence but goalkeeper Razak Abalora had no problems with that as he dealt with it with ease. The exchanges went were even but both sides failed to score as the referee blew for half time.
In the second half, Asante Kotoko effected a substitution, with Samuel Frimpong coming in for skipper Emmanuel Gyamfi in the 62nd minute with the scoreline still blank. Striker Naby Keita was introduced 5 minutes after to replace Brazilian midfielder Fabio Gama who had a quiet game on the day.
In 71st minute, right back Christopher Nettey broke the deadlock to put Asante Kotoko 1-0 up after pouncing on to Patrick Asmah’s cross to power a low header into the net from close range.
Dwarfs won a advantageous free kick at the edge of the box in the half of the visitors but failed to find the net. The Porcupines held on an impenetrable defence wall which prevented Dwarfs from finding a way through. An additional time of 3 minutes elapsed after the regular 90 minutes the referee brought proceedings to an end. Asante Kotoko picked up the three maximum points and a clean sheet away from home for the second time this season.