Asante Kotoko coach David Duncan concedes to a poor start in their 2-2 draw with New Edubiase United on Sunday.

The Porcupine Warriors went down as early as the ninth minute through a Bernard Ofori strike before racing back to overturn the scores with a 2-1 halftime lead.

Centre-back Smallboy Korbah was deployed as a holding midfielder in his first start of the season and looked to not gel well with the team as Edubiase dominated play and missed numerous scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes.

“We didn’t get off the blocks on a bright note. We were a bit jaded getting off the blocks. The coordination between the backline was not as efficient as we would have liked it to be.

“Edubiase seized that opportunity and exploited it to their advantage. That’s how they came up with their first goal,” Duncan said in his post-match address.

Soon, Korbah’s time on the pitch came to an end as he was replaced with striker Abdul Latif Amadu – a tactical decision which turned the tide.

“And then we reshuffled our cards and brought on an additional striker in place of a holding midfielder and I think at that point, the game turned in our favour,” he continued.

Captain of the day Jordan Opoku equalised in the 25th minute before Emmanuel Asante gave Kotoko a 2-1 lead 10 minutes later.

Kotoko were cruising to snatch an important win at the Len Clay Stadium but Ainu Dramani pulled up a stunning equaliser four minutes from time.

Duncan feels centre referee William Agbovi, “to a very large extent, gifted Edubiase their equaliser” as he accuses him of ignoring an infringement on his left-back “who was being pulled all over the place” leading to the Dramani strike. He, however, praised Edubiase’s performance.

“Edubiase played very well. Coming up against Kotoko, we should not expect that a team will underperform. Any team coming up against Kotoko plays above themselves and Edubiase were not different so 2-2 it ended,” said Duncan.

Asante Kotoko return to host Heart of Lions in a match day 15 fixture at the Baba Yara Stadium on Wednesday.