By: David Kyei

Date: 18-08-11

The executive Chairman, Dr. K. K Sarpong has told officials of Serbian club side, F.K Vojvodina that the training tour has opened the eyes of the club to very important developments in the game of football and club administration that he was committed to implementing at home for the development of the sport in Ghana.

He also says that as an institution with its sights set on achieving positive results on and off the pitch, his administration was soon going to put in a proposal for partnership with Serbian clubs for the mutual benefit of the clubs to get on board.

“We are looking at technical, administrative and player support from both ends so that we all learn from the experiences of each other. It won’t be long and the world will be hearing about the sweet partnership that would be struck between Kotoko and the Serbian clubs”.

The chairman made these remarks when the General Secretary F.K Vojvodina, Radisav Rabrenovic, hosted the Ghanaian delegation that was at their training complex to watch Kotoko play against their side in a practice match.

The delegation was led by Ghana’s ambassador to Serbia, His Excellency, Valis-Akyianu, who also used to be the Chief Fire Officer of the Republic of Ghana.

The meeting, which was held at the plush administrative complex of the Serbian club also witnessed the presentation of two custom branded replica shirts of Vojvodina to H.E Valis-Akyianu and Dr. K. K Sarpong as a gesture of their appreciation for visiting their facility.

Dr. Sarpong on behalf of Kotoko also presented a wood carving to Vojvodina and urged them to find a vintage place in their splendid collection of memorabilia and see it as a heartfelt appreciation of the wonderful reception Kotoko has been accorded in Serbia.

In the match itself, Kotoko suffered a 1-3 defeat from what could be said as a result of tactical deficiencies and the inability of Kotoko to convert the many chances that fell the way of the club.

Per open play performance, Kotoko was at par with the Serbian side which paraded a Ghanaian player, Yaw Antwi, but their counter attacks always caught Kotoko struggling to survive the danger.

As early as the 4^th minute, a Vojvodina attacker perfectly connected to a Yaw Antwi head flicker to announce their intention of not standing by for Kotoko to beat them like they had done to their compatriot Super Liga sides.

That early wakeup goal brought Kotoko into the picture but they failed to make full use of an opportunity of an equalizer when in the 13^th minute, Nathaniel Asamoah shot into the waiting arms of the Vojvodina keeper when Michael Akuffu gave him a through pass.

Realizing the danger, Vojvodina players started playing it hard on Kotoko, but the referee kept a blind eye to that.

Realizing that the referees were becoming a hindrance to Kotoko’s forward move, they decided to shoot from afar and this nearly yielded results when Yaw Frimpong’s shot at goal was parried over for corner which was eventually wasted.

On the 53^rd minute, Vojvodina scored their second goal but was almost immediately responded by an Ahmed Toure goal.

That goal gave Kotoko players hope, but just when they were pilling the pressure, the Serbians used another counter attack to score their 3^rd goal to kill the match off.

Kotoko: Soulama Abdoulaye/Isaac Amoako, Yaw Frimpong/Amos Frimpong, Prince Anokye/Gershon Akuffu, Awal Mohamed, John Kufuor/Owusu Ansah Kontoh, Daniel Nii Adjei/Harif Mohamed, David Ofei/Reagan Obeng, Michael Akuffu/Afranie Yeboah, Jordan Opoku/Frank Boateng and Ahmed Toure/Stephen Oduro.