The defending champions of the University of Ghana Inter Hall football league, Akuafo Hall have failed to beat Elizabeth Frances Sey Hall in a ferocious football match on Tuesday at the Union Park, which in turn led to the elimination of the defending champions.
Before the game, the encounter between Akuafo Hall and Elizabeth Sey Hall held much significance and weight, as it was a repeat of last year’s semi-finals of the University of Ghana Inter Hall Football League.
Elizabeth Sey Hall was on a mission to take revenge on Akuafo Hall who had denied them their first-ever finals in last year’s edition of the University of Ghana Inter Hall Football League.
The ‘Farmers’ came to this game with troubles of their own as they were without some key players such as the captain of the side Aidoo Solomon, who is seen as the heart and engine of the team.
At the commencement of the game, Akuafo dominated possession in the first half but could not penetrate the rock-solid defensive setup from Elizabeth Frances Sey’s team.
Sey had the lion’s share of the chances created in the first due to the high-line system that was used by the Akuafo Hall team; they however could not utilize the numerous chances they created.
In contrast, at the 37th minute of the game, Kotoka Osbon timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap from the Akuafo Hall defense and was through on goal to give Elizabeth Sey Hall the lead; but he failed to find the back of the net as his efforts to dink the ball over the goalkeeper was denied by the woodwork.
The alarm bells started to ring for Akuafo Hall as Elizabeth Sey piled pressure on them in the dying embers of the first half..Sey kept probing and had a golden chance to score from a quick counterattack but could not utilize the chance, with the first half ending goalless.
Akuafo begun to grow into the game after the break; they started moving the ball quicker, using their flanks and had their moment in the game to break the deadlock in the 68th minute from an in-swinging cross that met one of their attackers, who made a glancing header towards the left post but failed to direct it on target as it went a whisker away from the left hand post.
It was a caution to Sey who matched-up their intensity as they reshuffled and brought in fresh legs to mount more pressure on Akuafo Hall.
Their efforts paid off in the 83rd minute of the game as John Peprah, popularly known as Mundo, picked up a loose ball and dribbled past the entire defense of the defending champions, but his shot on goal was saved by the goalkeeper; his teammate, Isaac Agyemang, however, who had had a phenomenal game was on hand to open the scoring.
Akuafo Hall fell flat after they conceded the late goal and never looked like scoring, they started lunging into tackles.
On the flip side of things, Elizabeth Sey Hall had the last chance to put the game to bed after a fine pass from Gabriel Nii Odai, to set Kingsford Anane through on goal. The gaffer still failed to beat the goalkeeper as his effort went narrowly off the right post.
Isaac Agyeman’s 83rd minute strike was enough to seal the victory for Sey Hall to send them to their first-ever University of Ghana Inter-Hall Football League.
Coaches thoughts
In a post-match interview with Univers Sports, the head coach of Akuafo Hall, Mr. Ebenezer Asamoah shared his thoughts on the game.
“I think it was a bad day for us, the players available are the ones that we used. We were without some of our key players due to illness such as our captain, Solomon and Thod… this made our midfield weak and they were able to dominate our midfield to capitalize on that.”
Mr Abdul Aziz Mohammed, the gaffer of Elizabeth Sey Hall also shared his thoughts with Univers Sports after the game, lauding praises on his boys for a spirited performance put up against the defending champions.
“My boys played very well today against the defending champions. We made mistakes today but we are going to rectify the errors before the finals so that we can clinch our first-ever University of Ghana Inter-Hall football league trophy on Friday.”
The 3rd and 4th play-off final between Akuafo and Legon hall comes off on Tuesday, today at the Sarbah Main field.
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Story by: Rabbi Adu Agyei | univers.ug.edu.gh
