Kotoko earn narrow victory over visiting Wa All Stars

Kumasi, June 21, GNA - Kumasi Asante Kotoko beat Wa All Stars by a lone goal in their Glo Premier League match played at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kuamsi on Sunday.

The lone goal was scored by substitute Alex Asamoah in the 61st minute when he pounced on a lose ball from the centre circle, raced with it and flicked it into the blind side of onrushing goalkeeper Robert Dabou in goal for All Stars.

It was however the visitors who made two quick moves in the second and 5th minutes but they could not utilize the chances that came their way as they allowed Kotoko to take over proceedings from them. From the 11th minute, Kotoko gradually came into the picture but a shot at goal by Daniel Nii Adjei was parried to corner by keeper Dabou with the resultant kick wasted.

The Porcupine Warriors continued to pile pressure on their opponents but their efforts to find the leader was strongly foiled by the impregnable defence of the visitors.

All Stars again got a chance in the 35th minute to open the scores but Nathaniel Asamoah who was in a good position shot wide. In the 42nd minute Kotoko came close to scoring but Kwadwo Poku's low grounder sailed across the posts with nobody to connect home and went ahead to waste another chance in the 45th minute when a shot from Francis Coffie also hit the foot of the post and bounced into play. On resumption of the second half, Kotoko improved on their game strategy with the inclusion of Alex Asamoah for Stephen Manu and Stephen Oduro replacing Atto Aggrey in the 50th and 60 minutes respectively as they put the heat on the visitors for Asamoah to score the lone goal of the match in the 61st minute.

Kotoko from then on put incessant pressure on the visitors in an effort to increase the tally while All Stars also brought in Ali Baba Ibrahim for Amin Fuseini in the 65th minute to strengthen their defence. The attackers of Kotoko continued to exert pressure with accurate short passes to the admiration of their supporters with Coach Herbert Addo bringing on Kwabena Yaro for Kwadwo Poku in the 74th minute. The Visitors, however mounted a last minute onslaught had a corner in the 89th minute but failed to make any good use of it whilst the referee ignored a glaring penalty for Kotoko in the 90th minute when a defender, Gershun Akuffo intentionally handled the ball in the box to prevent Asamoah from scoring. 21 June 09