Week 2: Ghana Premier League round-up, Hearts still winless as Kotoko’s perfect start continues
Another packed weekend of football was witnessed in the Ghana Premier League in matchday 2 of the 2021/22 season with contrasting results for eternal rivals Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko. If you have missed any of the scores and stats, stay here with us sa myactiveonline.com brings your all the details.
On Friday, the West Africa Football Academy held champions Hearts of Oak to a one-one draw. Kofi Kordzi first-half strike was evened by Sampson Agyapong 14 minutes after the break to leave the game level as the two sides shared the spoils.
Legon Cities build some momentum from their opening draw with Hearts of Oak last week to secure their first win of the season against Premier League returnees Real Tamale United. Joseph Adjei’s opening goal in the 22nd-minute was cancelled out by David Abagna 7 minutes later to leave the scores levelled at half-time. The Royals then scored two goals in the second half, one being a penalty by Jonah Attuquaye after Nathaniel Akwah had shot them into the lead. David Abagna was also on hand to score a penalty of his own for RTU but Cities held on the secure the victory in Accra. RTU had one player sent off minutes before the end of regulation time.
Ashanti Gold failed to keep the winning momentum from their opening week by succumbing to a 1-1 draw against Karela United. Hamin Dafie scored first for Karela before Isaac Agyemang levelled for the Miners on the 39th-minute via the penalty spot.
Elmina Sharks after dropping some two valuable points away last time out missed all the three against Dreams FC who have picked their first maximum points of the season after a humbling final few minutes saw them surrender all to Kotoko last week. Ebenezer Boadi’s 77th-minute penalty was not enough to cancel out Kwame Karikari first half double before Agyenim Boateng Mensah put the game beyond Sharks’ reach late into the second half.
Aduana Stars suffered a 1-3 home defeat to King Faisal at the Agyeman Badu I Stadium. Ibrahim Osman scored after just 9 minutes into the match but it only lasted 5 minutes asKwame Adam Frimpong equalized for the Fire Boys on the 14th-minute. Amar Latif grabbed a second half brace for the Insha Allah boys, scoring in the 68th-minute and deep into injury time to put them joint top of the league table on six points after two rounds of matches.
Berekum Chelsea and Techiman Eleven Wonders shared the spoils in the Bono Regional derby, playing out a goalless draw. Both sides picked their first point of the season after suffering lone goal defeats in their last outing.
Great Olympics picked up their first win of the season with a 3-1 win against regional rivals and Premier League newbies, Accra Lions FC. Sameul Ashie Quaye was the Oly Dade hero with three goals to ensure Richmond Ankrah’s 57th-minute goal was a mere consolation. Ashie scored 21 minutes into the game but after Ankrah’s leveller, he added two more goals in quick succession in the 65th and 69th minutes, the last from the penalty spot to secure the win for Olympics.
Kumasi Asante Kotoko’s magnificent start to the season continued with an unanswered two-goal win over Bechem United at the Baba Yara Stadium. Full-back Ismail Ganiyu was the star man with two late goals, first in the 87th-minute before the second deep into injury time handed Prosper Ogum his second competitive in since taking charge of the Porcupine Warriors during the offseason.
The Medeama versus Bibiani Gold Stars was rescheduled for Tuesday.
Stats
In all, 23 goals were scored in the 8 matches that were played. Seven of the matches produced scoring results with one match ending in a goalless draw making a total of 3 draws.
Of the 5 wins, there were 4 for home teams with one ending positive for a travelling team. Each of the wins had a score of at least two goals with four of the winning teams scoring three goals each. There were 5 penalty goals with the Legon Cities versus RTU match producing two of them.
There was one red card and that went against Real Tamale United in their match against Legon Cities.
Four players[David Abagna, Amar Latif, Kwame Karikari, Ismail Ganiyu] scored two goals each and one [Samuel Ashie Qauye] scored a hat-trick, the first of the season.
Three teams kept cleans with only one of them scoring in their match, the other two were involved in a goalles drawn game.
By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com
