It was close contest on GPL match day four

If you didn’t find anything interesting on match day four of the 2017/18 Ghana Premier League, you certainly didn’t follow the matches played across the country from Saturday. It may still be early days but on match day four, I saw an intense competition for points.

At the end of the day, the league table reveals a keen contest so far. Except leaders Ashgold who have 10 points; WAFA, Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko, Dreams FC and Medeama – all have seven points. They are only separated by goals and even with that, the numbers are very close. Inter Allies are 7th on the table with six points while debutants Eleven Wonders are 8th with five points.

From the 9th to 14th place, all the teams have 4 points. Match day five surely will be explosive. Here’s my wrap of the weekend’s matches starting on Saturday. Ashgold couldn’t continue their winning streak. Bechem United applied the brakes on them as they drew 1-1 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium.

The draw by Ashgold gave me indications that, their form hasn’t been as sharp as I imagined. If WAFA were brilliant on match days two and three, beating Liberty and Aduana Stars 3-0 and 2-0 at Dansoman and Sogakope respectively; they weren’t impressive on match day four.

WAFA’s shine was missing on Saturday night. Elmina Sharks’ 2-0 win over them reinforced the often-held view that, WAFA are bad travelers. The floodlights going off after 68 minutes in the Sharks-WAFA game was damper to the action that was building up to the end of proceedings.

Nonetheless, electricity restored and Elmina Sharks went on to bad their first three points in the season. Pressure will ease on the back of Elmina Sharks coach, Yaw Acheampong.

Aduana Stars’ 6-0 pummeling of Inter Allies re-established the inherent quality of midfielder, Yahaya Mohammed, who scored a hat trick in 30 minutes. The result also fortified the notion that, Aduana Stars are just good at home.

Hearts of Oak took their chance against Dreams FC winning 1-0 at their new home, Cape Coast. I’m however not convinced that, Hearts have hit good form, and Dreams FC will bounce back on match day five. Liberty Professionals’ difficulty with winning was apparent again at Dansoman.

Their failure to score a penalty made Medeama return to Tarkwa with a point from the 1-1 draw. Liberty would have to dig deep and start winning before relegation beckons. Coach Johnson Smith had his first win with Karela United, who Ebusua Dwarfs 3-0. Dwarfs’ coach, Bashir Hyaford accused his goalkeeper, Frank Andoh of gifting Karela United goals.

Don’t you like Bashir Hayford’s takes on matches? Asante Kotoko returned from Tarkwa on match day three crying foul of cheating. Interestingly, Eleven Wonders left Kumasi with the same accusations of cheating against Kotoko and the referee because Wonders’ late-minute goal was disallowed. With Jordan Opoku’s 83rd minute fortuitous strike, Kotoko won 1-0.

Wa All Stars were victorious in their first game after they sacked coach, Mumuni Sokpari. Was Coach Sokpari the reason for Wa All Stars inability to win previous matches? I can’t answer that now.