Black Queens shares spoils with Kenya in Accra

The Black Queens of Ghana were held to a goalless draw game by the Harambee Starlets of Kenya in the first leg of the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Friday.

The Black Queens, guided by Coach Mercy Tagoe was unable to grab a win despite dominating play.

Ghana’s Milot Abena Pokua was the first to be handed a brilliant chance with two minutes to end the first half but her shot was denied by Kenyan’s Andiba Shgril in the 12-yard box.

From recess, Ghana was pushing for a goal but they were well measured by their opponent who were well organized in defence.

With the home team pilling pressure on the visiting team, the Black Queens were again presented with another golden opportunity but inexperienced former Under-17 chap, Abena Pokua missed the chance.

Coach Tagoe, chasing for a win, made substitutions to the team by bringing on Ernestina Abambilla, Ruth Animah, and Grace Acheampong to pull a magic for Ghana, but the Black Queens effort proved futile with a couple of shots hitting the post.

With two minutes to end the regulation time, substitute Airo Mercy was denied a goal when she had a one-on-one encounter with Ghana’s goalie Fafali Dumehasi, but the goalie was right on time to save the situation for Ghana.

The Black Queens sensing the game would end in a goalless draw, started piling pressure on the visiting team but Evelyn Badu’s strike was denied by the opponent’s side net.

After a disappointing show of missing golden chances, Ghana would need a win to advance to the next stage of the Africa Olympic qualifiers.

Kenya reached this stage after eliminating Malawi on a 5-3 goal aggregate in the first round of qualifiers with Ghana thumping Gabon 5-0 on aggregate.

Ghana would travel to Kenya on Tuesday, October 8 for the return fixture at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani and the team that wins, advances to the fourth round of the 2020 Olympic Games billed for Tokyo, Japan.