Kumasi Asante Kotoko survived a last minute scare from Ashgold to qualify to the finals of the 2016 G-6 Invitational Tournament played at the Essipong stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Prior to the game, Kotoko had beaten Brekum Chelsea 3-1 on Friday afternoon and had one foot in the finals, provided they can claw at least a draw against and Ashgold side that drew with Chelsea on Thursday.
The Kotoko starting XI that played in the first match against Chelsea on Friday is on its way to Libya to play in an international friendly match, and as such paraded an entirely different team with only goalkeeper Richard Ofori and Edwin Tuffour Frimpong maintaining their positions in the starting XI, and were led by assistant coach Michael Osei.
Ashantigold on the other hand, paraded almost the same players that drew goalless with Berekum Chelsea in match day one of the competition.
When the game finally commenced it was Kotoko who showed signs of wanting to carry the day as they pinned their opponents in their own half for a considerable amount of time.
In the 9th minute, Asante Kotoko get the first real chance of the game an action that fell to Elvis Amoh, but the lanky striker wasted too much time trying to get his acts together. When he finally managed to get a shot in, it was cleared off the line by an Ashgold defender.
Ashgold accepted the challenge and mounted their own series of attacks. In the 15th minute, they nearly scored the opener, but Isaac Amoah couldn’t connect to a swift cross by Emmanuel Osei.
Just when Ashgold were beginning to dream again, they suffered a sucker punch as Kotoko grabbed the openr in the 19th minute.
The goal came out of nothing. A back pass from midfielder Eric Opoku found Desmond Agbekpornu but the defender could not control the pass. By then Kotoko striker Kwame Boateng was lurking in his shadows and pounced on the loose ball to coolly slot home the first goal.
There was nothing goalkeeper Fatau Dauda could have done about it because none of them expected it.
Both teams failed to add to the goal tally till the end of the first half, but it was Ashgold who effected the first change of the game. Alhassan Nuhu came off for Francis Adjei
Back from recess, both teams thrilled the fans to good end to end football and by far it was Ashgold where won most of the ball possession but failed to score any of the many chances they managed to create.
Frustration set in for the Ashgold players as they failed to score. On on of those many occasions, defender Augustine Sefa hacked down Kotoko striker Elvis Amoh and that warranted his exit. He was red carded in the 88th minute.
Coach Bashir Hayford’s men kept fighting and in the 93rd minute grabbed the equalizer through Hudu Yakubu.
It was a nervy finish, but Kotoko managed to hold their heads high till the blast of the final whistle.
They will play in the finals against Aduana Stars who earlier in the day, cut SC Medeama to size with a 3-0 win.
G-6: Asante Kotoko Hold Ashantigold 1-1 To Qualify For Finals
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