Omanghana
Asante Kotoko head coach Eric Tinkler has admitted that his team produced an unconvincing performance despite securing a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Heart of Lions at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium.
Goals from new signings Emmanuel Mamah and Isaac Opoku Agyemang handed the Porcupine Warriors all three points in their second match of the Ghana Premier League season. The victory also ended Kotoko’s decade-long wait for a win against the Kpando-based club.
Despite the result, Tinkler was unhappy with aspects of his side’s performance, particularly their defensive organization and inability to control the match after Heart of Lions were reduced to 10 men.
“We made things very difficult for ourselves. You can see Heart of Lions are a good team; they created chances, but we managed the game, and we created our chances,” Tinkler said.
“Overall, there is still a lot of work we have to do defensively. We struggled even when we played against 10 men. Today we won ugly, but we will take the three points and move on.”
Heart of Lions continued to threaten despite their numerical disadvantage, exposing gaps in Kotoko’s defense and forcing the home side to battle until the final whistle.
The result took Kotoko’s tally to four points from their opening two league matches. While pleased with the victory, Tinkler acknowledged that considerable improvement would be required as the season progresses.
The Porcupine Warriors will next travel to Samreboi to face FC Samartex, where the technical team will hope to address the defensive weaknesses identified during the victory over Heart of Lions.
Source: Omanghana
