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What the players said after the Kotoko- Etoile match
Compiled by David Kyei, Kumasi
 Soulama Abdoulaye: It has been a bad day for me especially having to concede two goals in front of my favourite fans at the Baba Yara Stadium. Before anything, I want to thank the supporters for their massive turnout at the stadium. They really responded to our invitation to them to come to the stadium to cheer us up. We are grateful for that.
On the match, I must say that it has been a painful experience for the whole of the team. It was and still is the intention of the playing body to win the competition and I am sure we still have that on course.
I want to encourage the fans that we still stand a chance to make it to the final and so they should not lose hope.
 Godfred Yeboah: It is unfortunate that after all the effort we put into the game, we could only get a draw. Much as I share in the pain of the fans, I am of the firm belief that all is not lost on us, because if Etoile could come to Kumasi of all places to cause a stir, so cam we also do same in Khartoum when we go to play Al Merreikh.
I am also of the belief that the referee did not also do well as expected of a person of his calibre. I therefore call on management to get their actions together to ensure that we had all our plans working to prevent the situation where we get cheated on our own home grounds.
At a point, I felt like we were playing away, because it is only during away matches that we experience this kind of officiating.
This draw is a painful one but I will want to urge fans to keep up the spirit and know that we still could be able to achieve something.
 Daniel Nii-Adjei: As playing body, we were determined to go all out to win so that we turn up an intense pressure on our away match in Sudan. Unfortunately after keeping pressure on Etoile for some time, the tables turned, thanks to the huge influence of the referee, on us and so whilst we probed forward for goals, we also had to make sure that the referee did not act funny on us.
Much as we tried, the man in the centre decided to split the points between the two sides.
I do not really know what went wrong exactly, but I think something might have got wrong somewhere because the referees’ decisions were so strange that we did not know what he wanted us to do on the field.
My disappointment with the referee was with the situation where as many as the over four penalties that came our way when the result was too all were ignored.
As a person with a firm belief in God, I count it as a test from him and so as we take the draw in good faith, I am sure he will surely make it up for us one way or the other.
 Emmanuel Osei Kuffour: This was a match that in my estimation, we did all we could as players to ensure our victory, but we had the unfortunate task of having to play under a referee who came into the match with his own intentions and plans to cheat us.
Besides that, I also think that all the preparation towards the match was left on the shoulders of the playing body and so we ended up using up too much energy in the match.
Though I am just but a player, I will like to suggest to anyone who cares to listen that we need to open up our game and adopt styles of play that will not make so predictable. We need to vary our play and also have to make our strikers mobile since that would be the only way we could unlock the attacks of our opponents.
I know that the result is a difficult one for Kotoko supporters to swallow but I want to assure them that all was not lost for us. I thank them for their support during the match, and pray that they keep it up for the club.
 Kwabena Yaro: As a player, I am disappointed that after stating the match so well, our determination to wrap up victory fizzled out. It is an unfortunate situation, but it also points to the reality of the game of football.
I want to appeal to supporters not to lose hope and because we the players are committed too making it up for them one way or the other.
 Ofosu Appiah: I am very sad with the score line recorded and more disappointed with the fact that we sat back as a team to allow the referees rob us at the Baba Yara Stadium. The pain wouldn’t have been as high if the match was played outside of Ghana where we would have been the away team.
I am so disappointed with the referee that the referee awarded against us because it was a fair challenge that I went in for, but as people would have seen on TV, it was never a good decision and I hope CAF will look at the tape and do something about the match referee.
 Osei Kwame: I first give thanks to God, because his words say that we should give him thanks. I will also want to plead with the fans to take the result in good faith and count it as one of the vagaries of the game. In fact, it was our determination to win the match, but things did not go the way we expected. It is true that we wasted too many scoring chances because we were in a rush to score which ended up going wild away from the goal post.
I want the fans to put the draw behind them and be assured that we are going to go back to the drawing board to ensure that we correct our mistakes before the next assignment.
 Mark Sekyere: As a player, it is not my place to comment so much about the performance of the referees, but on this particular occasion, I want to go away from the standard and say that the referee really cheated us.
If one trace the matches that we have played so far, it is clear that we have always been cheated away and now that has been carried to us in Kumasi as well.
Much as at a point I was having difficulties, I did not allow that to get over me.
To the fans, I want them to be patient with us and know that these are some of the rough times in the game of football. We are going to work hard to ensure that we for once change our away record.
 Jordan Opoku: Generally, we did all in our power as players to win, but unfortunately had to share the points. I will only ask of the fans to bear with us and continue to give us the support to be able to quickly get over.
We created so many chances and could not make the right impact, but want to assure that we will get our acts together. We are ready to make amends for the missed opportunities.
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