AshGold Beat Benin National Team

Ashgold who are systematically and progressively undergoing their training regime beat the Benin National team, the Squirrels 2-1 in an international friendly game at the Len Clay Sports Stadium last Wednesday.

The match that started on a bright note saw the visitors dominating in the first fifteen minutes of the first half with beautiful inter-positional displays and midfield superiority. The defenders of Ashgold stood tall to most scary occasions and prevented any ball from entering their net until the Benin National side opened the score line through Fanou Redala in the 13th minute.

Ashgold accepted the challenge but found it very difficult to penetrate through the defence of the Benin side who were taller and bulkier than Ashgold attackers. Matthew Attiogbe redeemed his side by finding the equalizer in the 17th minute when he took advantage of a loose ball of and placed the ball at the blind side of the goalie of the visitors with their defenders caught ball watching.

Attiogbe again scored the second goal for Ashgold but was disallowed by the referee for offside. The skillful midfielders of the visiting team displayed great skills exposed the midfield of Ashgold that looked not too alert and lacked the bite to surge forward. Mohammed Polo who was a victim to most rough plays blasted a powerful shot in the 39th minute but the ball went far over the bar for a goal kick in favour of Benin.

Ofosu Amoah entertained the fans with his usual speed and dribbling skills outran his markers before laying a perfect pass to Polo but the later could not properly connect the ball to the relief of the visitors.

Ashgold made changes in the early part of the second half bringing on evergreen Adu Gyamfi and Kwaku Sarpong for Paa Joe Kumah and Adamu Mohammed.

In the 63rd minute Ofosu Amoah set the Stadium alive when he beautifully and sensibly connected Adu Gyamfi's in-swinger for the second goal. Ashgold made another set of changes when Matthew Konadu and Richard Awuah took the positions of Ntui Michael and Matthew Attiogbe in the 66th and 79th minute respectively. The changes brought fireworks in Ashgold upfront but Richard Awuah squandered an unpardonable glorious opportunity in the 81st minute with only the goalie of the visitors only at his mercy. Opoku-Ware replaced Polo in the 85th minute. Awuah again missed another begging chance in the 90th minute when he beat his marker in the 18yard box but failed to slot the ball in the net to the disappointment of the fans to bring proceedings to an end.