Kotoko subdue Techiman XI

Correspondent: David Kyei, Techiman, Brong Ahafo 

8th October 2007  

The saying that there is always pride before dishonour was fully manifested when a select side from Techiman were badly bruised with three goals when they tried to test their false hopes against the unstoppable Kotoko team.

Playing in front of a partisan pet crowd, the Techiman Select side kicked off and almost immediately declared their intention of halting Kotoko on their winning streak by floating a high ball into the area of their high-flying opponents.

The return of the ball from the Kotoko area was to spell trouble for the unstoppable goal poacher, Eric Bekoe. As he attempted to go for the oncoming ball, the butcher of a defender, Kwasi Ali, cynically booted him from behind. Despite that, the tackle received spontaneous shouts of displeasure from almost the whole fans, the referee, Twereboah Kodua, waived play to continue whilst Bekoe lay in pain.

Known for his no nonsense character and abrasiveness, Kwabena Dodzi who had a wonderful day in the midfield decided to meet the Techiman guys boot for boot by engaging them in their rough play. However, he was unlucky to go into the referee’s book as the first Kotoko player to be booked in the nineteenth minute after his opposite number; Paul Ackah had his in the twelfth minute.

Having completely lost control of the game, it took a threat by Kotoko to pull out of the match in the twenty-first minute before the referee came to his senses to somewhat apply some of the rules of association football.

The application of some of the rules by the referee gave Kotoko the chance to string their passes together. This also gave skilful Sekyi in the Techiman team to get into his elements by taking his opponents through some uncomfortable moments. Godfred Yeboah had to delve deep into his rich experience to put the breaks on him.

Pressure began to increase on the Techiman team, who besides that, also had it tough dealing with the defensive pair of Prince Anokye and Richard Manu.

As if working through a division of labour, Prince Anokye made a clean sweep of all the ground balls whilst Manu always soared above everybody for the aerial balls.

With goal still shy of Kwadwo Poku, he made his presence on the field worthwhile by using his speed to advantage to create space for the man of the moment, Eric Bekoe supported by Francis Coffie and Eric Opoku to torment the visibly tired Techiman defence.

In one of such moves at the forty-fourth minute, Eric Bekoe latched onto a lose ball on the right flank, controlled it well and curled a pull out for Eric Opoku to nod home his first personal goal at Kotoko and the teams first  in the match.

The period after recess was the most difficult for Techiman select because they found it difficult to keep up with the speed that the substitutes brought into the game.

With his new found confidence to shoot at goal from afar at work, Nii Adjei in the fifty-sixth minute delivered a thunderbolt that goalkeeper Amoateng in post for Techiman Select could not hold on firmly.  With goal hungry Eric Bekoe lurking around he took advantage of the failure of the keeper and placed the ball coolly in the net for Kotoko's second and Eric’s tenth goal in the pre-season training matches.

In the Seventy-first minute, Bekoe once again racked home Kotoko's third goal from a shot right outside the eighteen yard box.

Having been served a teaser of what to expect in the coming season, the talk after match was all about the renewed strength that the team has been playing with and the number of goals that have so far been scored.

Kotoko

Isaac Amoako

Samuel Inkoom

Godfred Yeboah

Prince Anokye

Richard Manu/ Mutala Mohamed

Kwabena Dodzi/ Stephen Oduro

Eric Opoku/Justin Manga-Manga

Obissesah Obiodum/ Nii Adjei

Kwadwo Poku/ Osei Kwame jnr.  

Eric Bekoe/ Kwame Obeng Darko

Francis Coffie

Unused substitutes

Isaac Anderson

George Cudjoe