KOTOKO SUPPORTERS WON TITANIC MATCH (NSEMPA, BACK PAGE)

By George Ernest Asare, Kumasi.

KUMASI Asante Kotoko’s victory over the Dolphins of Nigeria at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Monday, May 12, 2008, described by coach Bashir Hayford as “miraculously sweet,” killed two golden birds with a mighty stone.
Giant feat
This was because after performing the giant feat, which saw the Porcupine Warriors recovering from 0-3 goal aggregate to score four goals, two of which were scored in the last seven minutes of the match to edge out Dolphins from the CAF Confederation Cup competition, Kotoko also smiled all the way to the bank, to cash in the gate proceeds which their supporters doled out generously on Sunday and Monday for watching the match for the two consecutive days.
Reports reaching Graphic Nsempa in Kumasi indicated that the Porcupine Warriors, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, accumulated over GH¢170,000 from the two days it engaged the Nigeria representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup competition in Kumasi.
A heavy downpour on Sunday, May 11, 2008 a few minutes after kick off when Kotoko was leading their opponents by a lone goal rendered the pitch ineffective for any competitive match, and this caused the match officials from Angola, to push the game to Monday, which incidentally was the first working day of the third week of May 2008.

Unflinching support
The fear was that unlike the previous day where a sizeable number of Kotoko faithful stormed the Baba Yara Sports Stadium to offer their unflinching support to Kotoko in their abortive clash with the Dolphins, a few of them may throng the stadium on Monday.
However, with the expectations so high and the battle ahead so Herculean, the numerous Kotoko fans knew to that the players needed them more than over before at that crucial moment, so staying away from the match would be detrimental to the forward match of their idol club.
They also realised that it was only their massive support from the stands that could ginger the players into action to deliver, and that was exactly what they did.
It was therefore not surprising that by kick off at 3p.m, on Monday, almost all the stands had been filled by soccer fans wearing their usual red and white shirts, indicating that, they were not taking any chances and were prepared to sacrifice their profits even on a busy day like Monday to see to Kotoko’s victory.
Fans
The presence of the fans was therefore very intimidating and it was quite surprising that the Dolphins succeeded in shooting ahead in the 22nd minute against the run of play at a time that Kotoko had played so well and pinned them into their half for a greater part of the game.
Victory finally came but it came the hard way, mainly because of the hard work of the players, especially at the closing stages of the game, but primarily from the encouragement of the vociferious supporters who never stopped singing and urged the players on until the last minute of the game when Eric Bekoe exploded with two quick goals with Kwabena Yaro coming out with the winner on the stroke of time.
The Oduro magic
Putting the match into perspective, one could not rule out the magic of substitute Stephen Oduro whose midfield role had great impact on the game.
Prior to his inclusion in the game, Kotoko was just playing to the advantage of their taller opponents by ballooning the ball to their opponents area who responded by heading them away.
With faulty passes, unable to win some of the 50-50 balls, failing to make use of the numerous set pieces that came their way, and erratic shooting at goal, Kotoko became more desperate as the 90 minutes duration came closer.
As the Dolphins feigned injury at the least opportunity to waste precious time, and also resulted to massing up in defense, building a massive wall to protect their lead instead of attacking, Kotoko became more frustrated until the Stephen Oduro factor manifested midway in the second half.
As he put the ball on the turf, taking total control in the midfield with his perfect ball control and distribution and creating empty spaces for his attackers, the spectators responded with shouts for goals at a time the Dolphins were up 3-1 on goal aggregate.
Kotoko finally scored three goals within a space of 20 minutes to beat their opponents 4-3 on aggregate to qualify to the next stage of the competition.
As the team gets closer to the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup competition, the need for more of such support is key to the future success of the Porcupine Warriors.
Effective support
The supporters need to organise themselves more effectively to ensure that they storm the Baba Yara Stadium anytime Kotoko play to encourage the players to die a little for their idol club.
The players are young with some of them having very faint hearts. It is only massive support by the fans that can adequately motivate them during tough battles as happened at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Monday, May 12, 2008.
Since 1983 when Opoku Nti, John Bannerman, Papa Arko, Yaya Kassum and Abdul Karim Zito, who constituted the core of the Kotoko team won the African Cup for Kumasi Asante Kotoko for the second time, the team has always struggled to conquer Africa.
Honour
Perhaps this is the time for the players to bring honour to themselves, their team and nation. They seem eager to create history for themselves and the team so as to be counted among the greatest players who had ever featured for the club.
However, the need for the numerous Kotoko fans to rally behind the players to sing their praises all the time would go a long way to rekindle the fighting spirit of the team.
It is therefore very important for those who need to organise the fans in a more effective way to put their shoulders to the wheel to ensure an all round support for the players in any competitive match.
This will ginger the boys to perform, even at the peril of their lives as Eric Bekoe, Jordan Opoku, Daniel Nii Adjei, Harrison Afful and Samuel Inkoom did last Monday.