ABDUL BASIT's bechem chelsea wins PRESIDENTS CUPABDUL BASIT's bechem chelsea wins PRESIDENTS CUP

Uncrowned league champions,
Bechem Chelsea Friday beat
Kumasi Asante Kotoko 9:8 on
penalties in a controversy-strewn
game to lift the 2011 Republic
Day Cup, otherwise called The
President’s Cup.
The game to mark Ghana's 51st
Republican anniversary had
ended 2:2 in regulation.
Kotoko had taken a 19th minute
lead through Alex Asamoah but
fell behind the more aggressive
Chelsea side as Gladson Awako
(21st) and Bismark Idan (38th)
romped home the needed
equalizer and lead in the game
that saw referee Mohammed
Awal regularly disputing the calls
of his two assistants.
It took a brainy lob of the ball
by Fatawu Mohammed over a
stranded Chelsea goalkeeper
Ernest Sowah in the 60th minute
to restore Asante Kotoko’s
hopes, however no further goals
were registered in the game
watched by Vice President John
Mahama and thus sent the game
into a shootout.
Referee Mohammed Awal, who
was seen just ahead of the
penalties in a conference with
the two goalkeepers; Ernest
Sowah and Soulama Abdoulaye
for Kotoko, on two occasions
ordered the replay of missed
kicks by Chelsea – one saved by
Soulama and the other
rebounding off the bar – on the
grounds that the goalkeeper had
moved ahead of the kicks.
The decision irked the Kotoko
side who threatened to walk off
the pitch until FA president
Kwasi Nyantakyi intervened. But
a section of Kotoko fans
registered their anger by
throwing bagged water at the
match officials.
The two sides eventually cleared
their five-apiece kicks, ushering
the game into sudden death –
with Asante Kotoko scoring the
sixth kick but missing the seventh
when Prince Anokye’s kick was
saved by Ernest Sowah.
Vice President John Mahama
presented the trophy to a
jubilant Chelsea side.
Story by Isaac