By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter
The Ghana Premier League witnessed yet another magnificent week of football in the week 25 clashes with the two biggest clubs picking a point each in their encounters. Kotoko drew goalless with Aduana Stars while Hearts fetched a point from Wa in their 1-1 stalemate with Wa All Stars.
New Edubiase magically won away at Techiman in a game that most people thought the Bekwai-based side could be hammered by Techiman City FC.
And Ebusua Dwarfs continued their stupendously brilliant campaign in the second round by getting a point from the Tema Park against troubled Inter Allies.
The Drawing Board will this week address the tactical disposition of the coaches of Inter Allies and Ebusua Dwarfs; our cameras were at Tema yesterday.
Ahead of the clash, many pundits had predicted the sinking Inter Allies to pick all three points because of their situation in the league and the fact that dropping points in that game would be deadly to their agenda of surviving the drop.
But Ebusua Dwarfs ended the game full of confidence as the side that took the lead for the home side to even fight back for the equalizer.
With a 4:4:2 system, the home side were expecting to force their opponents to coil for all the pressure but the intelligent coach of Dwarfs, Prosper Narteh gave them what they did not expect.
Jimmy Cobblah started Sheriff Deo Mohammed and Frederick Boateng in attack with Gockel Ahortor in holding midfield role supported by Isaac Twum while Evans Mensah and Frederick Yamoah played on the right side and left side of midfield respectively.
Osei Kwame stood between the sticks with Enock Adu and Ibrahim Alhassan at right back and left back while Wahab Ackwei and Uriah Kporvi manned the center of defence for the home side.
For the visitors, it was a 4:2:3:1 with Frank Andoh in post.
Christopher Bonney and Arthur Mensah were handed the right and left back positions respectively with Kingsley Nteng and Musah Mohammed at the center back positions.
Joseph Amoah Mensah and Ebenezer Ackon were deployed to handle the holding midfield role while Alhaji Mustapha, Stephen Bentil and Nicholas Gyan handled the offensive midfield role with Justice Asabre Mensah as the arrow head of the attack.
Dwarfs drew the first blood by surprising the hosts with an early goal under three minutes through captain Nicholas Gyan but the response was quick as Gockel Ahortor converted a spot kick when Yamoah had been brought down three minutes later.
Inter Allies’ strategy of raising the balls high from the flanks explained why Sheriff Deo was in the game but Dwarfs cut that intention by placing Alhaji Mustapha and Nicholas Gyan on the flanks.
That limited the crosses from Evans Mensah and Frederick Yamoah for Sheriff Deo. So the entire first half saw Shariff just running in the game without making a huge impact.
Christopher Bonney was not as influential as he used to be because of the swift movements of Frederick Yamoah but managed some few crosses while his counterpart at the right back for Inter Allies Enock Adu was subjected to serious torture by Alhaji Mustapha and Nicholas Gyan who were swapping positions occasionally.
Inter Allies’ Ibrahim Alhassan at the left back was the most instrumental player in the side and did all the runs on the flanks for the hosts. But most of his runs resulted in the midfield because Dwarfs had placed a ban on crosses from Inter Allies in the game.
The Dwarfs left back Arthur Mensah was not subjected to much trouble by Evans Mensah who loved playing deep in the midfield than on the flanks.
The main show was in midfield.
Dwarfs had a game plan of not losing the match so they planted Amoah Mensah and Ebenezer Ackon as holding midfielders to frustrate Isaac Twum and Gockel Ahortor in the heart of the game.
Alhaji Mustapha and Nicholas Mensah had a fantastic afternoon especially in the first half with the scores remaining 1-1.
In the second half, the home side started with a more offensive approach reverting to a 4:3:3 system where Frederick Yamoah joined Sharif Deo and Frederick Boateng in attack.
But the defence of the visitors was resolute and calm. They faced the Allies attack with Musah Mohammed winning all the drop balls and the 50-50 situations.
Eleven minutes into the second half, Ebenezer Ackon located Nicholas Gyan on the left flank. Gyan dribbled past Enock Adu, added Uriah Kpovi to his victims and crossed the ball into the Allies eighteen for Amoah Mensah to head home while Ackwei was looking on. Dwarfs were up again; 1-2.
Inter Allies had to do magic as they could not afford to lose the game.
Prince Boateng was brought on for Shariff Deo in the 60th minute with Ropapa Mensah coming on for Shariff Deo after four minutes. Then the pendulum was swinging again in favour of Dwarfs.
At this point, Alhaji Mustapha and Nicholas Gyan had been drafted into deep midfield in a 4:4:2 system with only Stephen Bentil and Justice Mensah leading the attack.
Allies kept the heat on Dwarfs and intensified it with the introduction of another forward Abdul Halik Hudu.
Halik’s introduction then shifted the total possession and domination in favour of Inter Allies. Dwarfs did all the defending at this point in time but the home side was just poised for the equalizer.
Halik proved how vital a substitute he was by fetching the equalizer a few minutes after his introduction.
At this point, Allies had switched to the 4:3:3 system again.
It was an interesting game at the Tema Park full of tactical switches and both teams went away with a point each.
Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Premier League is not dead and will not die.