Asante Kotoko returned to winning ways at the expense of relegation threatened Real Tamale United (RTU) who gave the Porcupine Warriors a good run for their money at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday.
The Pride of the North surrendered to 1:0 defeat after holding their hosts till the 79th minute in a grueling match week 16 encounter between the two traditional teams.
Currently occupying the 17th position on the league table, RTU’s output did not depict a team battling relegation as they fought gallantly through the match.
High pressing by their forwards kept Asante Kotoko in their own half despite enjoying early possessing as they failed to transition into the half of their opponents.
Led by Mohammed Mankuyeli and Baba Kushibo, the visitors made it difficult for Kotoko to play their normal free flowing football in the opening five minutes.
Their first attempt at goal was recorded on the seventh minute when they finally managed to penetrate the midfield of the visitors but, Isaac Oppong’s strike deflected off the body of an RTU defender for the first corner kick.
From that point, Kotoko began to find their rhythm in terms of their passing play and started piling pressure on RTU.
The travellers however threw away a fine opportunity to steal the lead against the run of play when their skipper, Mohammed Hardi delivered a curling cross into the six yard box, but both Kushibo and Mankuyeli failed to connect home due to wrong timing.
Richmond Lamptey was next to waste a glorious chance to break the deadlock with two minutes to end the first half when he failed to finish a beautiful build up involving about five players.
Referee Julien Nunoo ended the first half shortly after that narrow miss as both teams headed into the dressing room without a goal.
RTU returned a bit more purposeful compared to how they started the first half, fighting for every ball against a side determined to make home advantage count.
Consequently, the early exchanges of the second half was quiet lively with high intensity as both teams stepped up their performance in search of the opener.
Kotoko looked more dangerous on the offensive, forcing the defence of RTU to work above themselves to repel all the threats.
The Porcupine Warriors would however intensify the pressure on the visitors with some eye-pleasing inter-positional play which only lacked good finishing to crown their efforts.
Their breakthrough finally arrived on the 79th minute when Steve Desse Mukwala converted a spot kick after Baba Yahaya was fouled in the box.
They held on to the slender lead for the rest of the match to record their seventh victory which moved them to the sixth spot on the league log.
GNA
