By: Jerome Otchere

Date: 10-05-11

Kotoko’s Serbian coach, Bogdan Korak has told Kotoko Express that his major target is not to maintain the second position on the league table but rather to win the MTN FA Cup title.

With utterly no chance of a league triumph, Coach Korak says although staying second on the table to the end of the season is something he would be happy with, his ultimate ambition is to clinch the FA Cup trophy to crown what has been a difficult first season.

The Kotoko coach made this disclosure when speaking in an interview after his team drew goalless at home to regional rivals Ashantigold on Wednesday evening.

“My target is not to place second in the league. The league is almost over! If we end at second position, it is good! However, we want to win the FA Cup.  That is my target. That is the team’s target,” he said.

The 51-year-old coach said with Kotoko’s qualification to the quarter final stage of the competition, the best thing he could give to the supporters at the end of the season would be the FA Cup title adding that there would be nothing to show for their hard work in the second round if they lose the FA Cup trophy but stays at the second spot on the league log.

The coach argues that what is important for him is to prepare his players well for the rest of the matches continuing that everything would be done to beat Heart of Lions next Wednesday in the FA Cup quarterfinal match.

“We have a good chance, we will play next week. We have to win, advance to the next stage and think of the final” said Bogdan Korak who was not too happy with the approach Ashantigold adopted to Wednesday’s grueling league game.

In the opinion of the Serbian whose lads for the first time failed to score in a league match at home since the start of the second round, Ashantigold were too defensive.

“They did not open up; we did our best but still we could not score. It was not nice on their part”.  

“Next time we will do better. We tried to score but we did not get it” he explained when asked why his team could not score.

Ashantigold on the evening seized the midfield throughout the first half allowing Kotoko little space to penetrate their rear. On the few occasions that Kotoko managed to break into the visitors’ defence, their salvos were not strong enough to beat goalkeeper Fatau Dauda.

On other occasions their shots were misdirected. Kotoko were luckier not to have conceded a goal after 17 minutes when an obvious goal bound strike was saved by the crossbar.

On the whole, it was a day that Kotoko’s midfield struggled to perform to expectation from the beginning. Stephen Oduro however made a huge difference when he came on for limping Fatawu Mohammed.

Yaw Frimpong, Prince Anokye, John Kuffour and Awal Mohammed fared well on the evening.

The introduction of Ahmed Toure for Alex Asamoah also brought life to Kotoko’s attack. Ahmed Toure paired delightfully with Nathaniel Asamoah except that their handsome work upfront did not result in a goal.

Three successive substitutions by Ashantigold coach, Zdravko Logarusic, replacing his attacking minded players for defensive oriented ones after 75 minutes showed his avowed desire to secure a draw forcing Kotoko battled fiercely to break their resolve with Albert Bruce replacing Frank Boateng in the 80th minute but no goals were scored.

Kotoko line-up: Isaac Amoako, Yaw Frimpong, Prince Anokye, John Kuffour, Awal Mohammed, Michael Akuffu, Daniel Nii Adjei, Frank Boateng/Albert Bruce, Alex Asamoah/Ahmed Toure, Nathaniel Asamoah, Fatawu Mohammed/Stephen Oduro. 

Ashgold line-up: Fatau Dauda, Troare Henri, Michael Boakye, Enstir Henry, John Ashong, Sampson Cudjoe, Mohammed Aminu/Francis Mantey, Alhaji Sani, Adjetey Emmanuel, Adoquaye Addo/Daniel Asamoah, Latif Mohammed/Edmund Peprah.