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 Nii
Adjei exorcises his Kessben FC ‘ghosts’
By David Kyei
22:41 GMT, 04-02-2010
The 17th week of the
last season and the days after were indeed not good times for
enterprising midfielder, Daniel Nii Adjei, as he had the
unfortunate task of living with an unsavoury tag of “Playing it
soft on Coach Bashir Hayford and his Kessben FC”.
This tag though was a misplaced
one, had no merit as the player himself profoundly denied that
accretion.
The assertion was given a
semblance of credence by the fact that despite his poor showing
on that day that culminated in his blowing away many begging
chances, he also blew away a very fine opportunity to make
amends when he failed to convert a penalty that was supposed to
be the match winner for that day’s drawn game.
Events after that period were
traumatic, as he “felt betrayed by the fans for whom I have been
doing all my best to ensure that we win matches to make them
happy,” he said.
Though he has always wished and
tried to forget those periods in haste, he says he has been
guided by it and has since that 10th day of May 2009,
been looking for an opportunity to force his critics to re-write
their earlier stories about him.
“That was the more reason why I
went all out to ensure that we won last Wednesday’s match. My
real intentions in that match were not only to score a goal to
cancel my ‘deficit’ with the fans, but to play my part for the
success of the team”.
“I am thankful to God that he did
not only give me the chance to play well, but also to score two
important goals”.
“I consider the goals very
important because besides the three points that we have
accumulated to move up the league ladder, we have also set a
good tone for the start of the second round”.
Much as he loved to talk about his
present success, a pry into how the problems and challenges of
the past informed his preparation for last Wednesday brought out
an interesting response.
“If there was anything like
preparation, it was not particularly for the Kessben match
because we the players know that they could stand us toe to toe.
What we rather did was to use them to rehearse some of the
tactics that we have been taught ahead of our match against Wa
All Stars and the upcoming African Champions’ league matches”.
“I am happy to report that the
goals aside, we did well with our rehearsals and that we would
be using the days ahead to perfect our moves”.
By scoring a brace against the
side that marred his joy in the past season, Nii Adjei
effectively exorcised the Bashir Hayford and his Kessben FC
ghost that has haunted him for a long time.
“ I have been praying to God that
he gives me the opportunity to prove to all Kotoko fans that
whatever I did wrong in last year’s match at the Baba Yara
Stadium were purely natural mistakes and that there were no
ulterior motives behind”
“Whatever we have achieved today
has been as a result if team work and that I cannot take sole
responsibility for it, more so, especially when I was the
captain for the day”
“The credit goals to the fans as
well for coming in their numbers, though not too encouraging, to
cheer us on. Whatever we do from now on is geared towards their
happiness and so we invite them to come to the stadium in their
leap and bound to cheer us on. We need them in the stands and
that we are going to work do hard for them,” he concluded. |
