Despite playing with ten men for the final thirty minutes of their game against Berekum Chelsea, Elmina Sharks managed to hold their opponents to a 1-1 draw at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday.
Berekum Chelsea in front of a sparse crowd at the Baba Yara Stadium opened the scoring in the 8th minute through Stephen Amankona. A free-kick awarded the home team was placed perfectly right behind the penalty box for Amankona to drive home the first goal of the day.
Chelsea kept the pressure on their opponents but failed to get another goal in the first half as Sharks kept their threat away from their goalkeeper.
The second half began with a more aggressive Sharks side which resulted in the Elmina side getting their second yellow card in the 50th minute. Edward Ebo Mends, the victim at that moment was shown a second yellow card ten minutes later, making the task for Sharks more herculean.
Sharks’ coach Yaw Acheampong was however up for the task introducing Mohammed Tanko for Ofoe Ofosu to tilt things in his side’s favour.
Chelsea had their fair share of the match official’s caution when Stephen Amankona and Collins Ameyaw were shown the yellow card in the 65th and 67th minutes respectively.
Elmina Sharks took advantage of the instability in the defence of Chelsea and got the equalizer through Felix Addo in the 72nd minute much to the surprise of the few fans in the stands. Surprised and taken aback by the turn of events, coach Tanasijevic brought on Kelvin Ishmael Mensah for Latif Salifu and Emmanuel Asamoah Asamoah for Evans Obeng in the 73rd and 79th minutes respectively hoping to get more goals for his side.
The game was however destined for a draw as neither of the tactical changes made by both coaches had any significant effect on the game. Mohammed Tanko who had earlier come on to replace Ofoe Owusu in the 52nd minute was shown the red card but yet again Chelsea could not get the winning goal.
The draw means Berekum Chelsea have failed to win a game in their last four league games with their last win coming against Liberty Professionals in a Week 9 fixture. Chelsea are 12th on the league table amassing 13 points after 12 games.
NASCO Man of the Match: Felix Addo ( Elmina Sharks )
Berekum Chelsea XI: Gideon Ahenkorah, Wahab Ahadzi, Benjamin Abaidoo, Zakaria Fuseini, Mohammed Braimah, Stephen Amankonah, Evans Obeng, Collins Ameyaw, Frederick Addae, Latif Salifu, Isaac Mensah
SUBs: Augustine Henneh, Solomon Teiko, Patrick Owusu, Emmanuel Asamoah, Huzaf Ali, Kelvin Ishmael Mensah, Godfred Adjei ( Coach: Svetislav Tanasijevic )
Elmina Sharks XI: Joseph Essam,Ofoe Ofosu, Daniel Obeng, Benjamin Tweneboah, Benjamin Arthur, Emmanuel Ampiah, Ibrahim Suraj, Felix Addo, Richard Mpong, Ishmael Hammond, Edward Ebo Mends
SUBs: Emmanuel Addington, Mohammed Tanko Ismaila, Isaac Mensah, Richard Attah, Eric Osei, Mohammed Tetteh Nortey, Theophilus Adom ( Coach: Yaw Acheampong )
Credit:Ghplive