Real Tamale United beat Asante Kotoko

Tamale, Nov. 4, GNA - A forty-sixth minute penalty neatly converted by centre forward Alhassan Weah enabled Real Tamale United to reign supreme over the Porcupine Warriors, Kuamsi Asante Kotoko in their GT-sponsored Premier League match at the Tamale Kaladan Park on Wednesday.

The Tamale lads who played a determined game carried the game to Kotoko but the defence of the visitors were able to ward off the early threats.

RTU's Weah was brought down in 15th minute near Kotoko's goal area but the resultant kick undertaken by Weah was wasted. RTU again had a free kick on the 16th minute mark when Weah was again brought down but the kick was also wasted.

In the 20th minute, Kotoko's goalkeeper, Mohammed Alhassan came out bravely to challenge Weah who was racing threateningly with the ball into his goal area and collided with him thus bringing the game to a halt for about four minutes.

Charles Taylor who played a good game had a good chance to find the net in the 24th minute but missed narrowly while Peter Yakubu of RTU also saw his goal-bound shot palmed by keeper Alhassan into play to be cleared by the Kotoko defence.

In the 35th minute, Kotoko earned a corner kick and Charles Tailor's kick found Michael Osei who was in a good position but he headed the ball over the bar while Frank Osei also shot feebly into the hands of the RTU goalie in the 39th minute.

RTU managed to put the ball into Kotoko's net but the goal was disallowed to bring the first half score to goalless. Back from recess, an RTU player lobbed the ball into Kotoko's goal area and in an attempt to clear the ball a Kotoko defenceman brought down Peter Yakubu of RTU in the penalty box. The kick was expertly converted by Weah to register the only goal of the match.

The game from then on tilted in favour of RTU as they mounted series of attacks and Peter Yakubu nearly increased the score but keeper Alhassan stretched full length to push out the ball out of danger before it was cleared by his defence men.

RTU brought on Gilbert Ayikade for Peter Amoako to strengthen their attack while Kotoko also brought on Shilla Alhassan for Michael Osei but this did not change the pattern of the game as both teams probing for goals but which never came their way.

RTU again substituted Gafaru Abdulai for Peter Yakubu in 70th minute while Nana Arhin Dua took over from Frank Osei in the 75th minute and change brought more bite into the Kotoko's attack as they created a sustained pressure on RTU but they could not translate their chances into any goal.

The defence of RTU had a difficult task of containing the inter-positional display between Tailor and Dua as their combination nearly yielded a goal when Tailor used his ankle to hit the ball that the RTU keeper had difficulty to save. He got injured as a result and received treatment bringing the game to a halt for a while.

Sensing danger, RTU pulled out Weah for Joseph Adjei in an attempt to increase their scores but the change did not favour as it was Kotoko who raised the tempo of the game and came closer to finding the equalizer in the 80th minute when Yamoah lobbed the ball into the RTU 18 but substitute Shilla's attempt to head the ball into the net was thwarted when the RTU keeper out-jumped him and collected the ball.

Gilbert Ayikade of RTU and Kotoko's Samuel Addo were shown the yellow cards for rough play before the referee brought the game to an end amid jubilation from the enthusiastic RTU supporters.