There was several uproars at the Accra Sports Stadium yesterday as the two goalkeepers of Accra Lions and Elmina Sharks continued to fumble with the balls on the pitch in their match which ended 1-1.
Fans and even the benches of the two sides wondered what could be wrong as goalkeepers Appiah Kubi and Joseph Essam made errors while trying to grab the ball. On more occassions the keepers failed to grab the ball on first attempt as the tempo ball used for the match played games on them .
Skipper Ishmael Hammond provided some answers after the match as he explained the difficulty of using the ball which was just introduced into the Ghanaian game by the Ghana Football Association.
” Putting passes together sometimes was difficult since the ball is new. Some of the players spoke about the ball and you realised the goalkeepers also made mistakes which led to the goals .
I asked our goalkeeper and he complained about how slippery the ball is and he told me it’s difficult to handle the ball because the pitch may have been watered or it may have rained earlier.
That made the ball slippery and difficult grabbing especially from crosses and shots from afar. We have not used it for long but I know with time we will get used to the new tempo ball”, Hammond revealed after the match .
Patricia Adjei Yeboah
