Asante Kotoko lost to Real Tamale United (RTU) on Sunday because the Kotoko players lost focus on the field of play, and were too individualistic on the field of play, according to head coach Prosper Narteh Ogum.
Asante Kotoko’s right back Patrick Asmah gave away a preventable penalty which RTU converted via Ronald Frimpong stepped forward to convert it for the home side, putting them in front in the 26th minute.
Asante Kotoko could not equalise till the half time mark, and failed to find the net as RTU pounced again to double their lead in the second half through a Victor Aidoo header, following a misjudgement from Asante Kotoko goalkeeper, Ibrahim Danlad.
Speaking to StarTimes TV after the lose, coach Prosper Ogum sounded unhappy about how his boys played, attributing the lose to lack of concentration and team play from his boys.
“I think they lost their focus on the field. Most of the things that they were doing especially with the ball were not the things that they were supposed to do. They were too individualistic on the field; most of the players didn’t play as a unit and as a unit, and I think that actually affected us”, Ogum said after the match.
Goalkeeper Danlad’s wrong decision led to the second goal which eventually fetched RTU all the three points. The two goals Asante Kotoko conceded all came out of wrong decisions from both Asmah and Danlad, which coach Prosper admits.
“If you look at the penalty we conceded it was not necessary, the tackle from Ashmah was not necessary, and if you look at the way Danlad also came out, it was not necessary because [Samuel] Appiah was with him, so once you had the defender with an attacker yours was to keep your line of movement in line with the ball so that if he misses you can react, and if he gets the ball and he takes the shot at goal you would be able to save it.
But then he was trying to think faster ahead of the two players and rather in terms of his movement he was late and the RTU player was first to the ball”, Ogum bemoaned.
The former WAFA trainer has however cautioned against blame games, saying they must accept the lose in good faith and look forward.
“We created some good chances in especially in the early part of the game which we could have scored but we couldn’t, and I think it’s okay. We’ve lost and we have to accept it, no blame game. We just have to make sure that we go back as a unit like we came here and make sure that we get things done right and we move on, that’s all”, he stated.
Picture credit: Asante Kotoko
