Difficult first round: my highs and lows

Kotoko spanked Heart of Lions 4-0 on match day 15.

This is in Kotoko’s perspective. Perhaps in subsequent articles, I will look at the entire competition. Today, I just want to take readers through what my highs and lows were concerning Kotoko in the first round of the league. To say that, Kotoko struggled in the competition would be stating the obvious and I like stating the obvious.

I’ve picked five highs and five lows which respectively brightened and discoloured Kotoko’s outlook in the first round of the 2014/15 First Capital Plus Premier League. One of the first highs was the registration of players for the competition. I haven’t picked that necessarily because I was one of the main architects of Kotoko’s player registration exercise for the season.

 

I have chosen it largely because of the success of the entire exercise which management steered to perfection, providing the necessary documentation on each of the 29 players. If something had gone wrong, it would’ve made news but because everything went right, there was nothing worth talking about. Most of the time, we journalists want negative rather than positive news not just because it sells but also because that’s what the public is interested in. 

 

It was imperative that, management worked hard to keep the lenses of the media and the general public from any negative development regarding the registration. So after that, the competition got underway following a long delay and Kotoko scored its first low. Against very strong hopes that they would break the jinx that had prevented them from winning at Dormaa Ahenkro against Aduana Stars, Kotoko lost 1-0 which was quite a bad start.

As defending champions, Kotoko’s plight wasn’t helped either when Hasaacas held them to a draw 2-2 in Kumasi. That draw – the first of four home drawn games in the 15 matches Kotoko played was another low. But when many had predicted that, Kotoko, then under the tutelage of Coach Mas-ud Didi Dramani, would struggle to beat B. A. United at home, the Porcupines posted a confident 2-0 win at the Sunyani Coronation Park. I covered that game. It was a quite exciting encounter.

Returning to Kumasi to face arch rivals Hearts, many knew anything could happen in Kotoko- Hearts matches but no genuine Kotoko fan dreamt of defeat for the fabulous lads. In the end, it was a sad story. Kotoko lost 0-1 to Hearts to mark another low moment. Down but not really battered, Kotoko trekked to Obuasi for a regional derby against the high performing Ashantigold.

The writing was clearly on the wall. With Ashantigold right on top of the league, playing superbly too, it was going to take far more than the ordinary performance then Coach Mas-ud Didi Dramani and his team had been displaying to win at Obuasi. Despite taking an early lead, Kotoko succumbed to Ashantigold’s massive pressure and lost 2-1. That was also another low.

Coach Didi had to leave. In fact, he was asked to proceed on leave by the Board, ending his nearly three-season reign. Didi won two league titles plus the FA Cup yet after seven games in the 2014/15 season, the defending champion languished in the bottom ranks of the league. Didi and Kotoko’s poor run needed to be halted. Enter Coach David Duncan who replaced Didi.

The twists and turns that preceded Duncan’s final arrival was a high. His presence injected a sense of freshness or newness into the entire Kotoko system. Coach Didi’s exit certainly marked a low point. Coach Duncan led Kotoko to beat Bechem United 3-1 in his first league game.

He and the team received rave reviews. A very disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Great Olympics coupled with an earlier 2-1 loss also at home to Algeria’s Eulma in the CAF Champions League, wiped the rising good feeling around Coach Duncan and the team.

Something needed to be done to restore the good feeling and hope. The team staggered.  Even the impressive wins in the FA and Elite Cup matches did very little to raise the excitement. But when they thumped Heart of Lions 4-0 in Kumasi, the fans literally stretched their necks across the fence to see which players caged the Lions.

That win ensured that, Kotoko ended the first round on a high note. Many expect that, in the second round, there will be more exciting moments for Kotoko. I also expect that. I believe the team’s performance will greatly improve.