Asante Kotoko head coach Mariano Barreto has admitted his side faced stiff opposition from Division Two side Thunderbolt FC in the MTN FA Cup Round of 32.
The Portuguese trainer heaped praises on Thunderbolt FC despite his side's 3-1 win at the Nana Okese VI Park on Saturday.
Evans Adomako scored the opening goal of the game in the fourth minute before Prince Anokye got the equalizer for Thunderbolt FC a few minutes later.
Kotoko dominated proceedings and restored their lead through Evans Adomako, who recorded his first brace for the club.
Deputy captain Emmanuel Gyamfi scored the winning goal to help Asante Kotoko progress to the next round of the competition.
Speaking to the media after the game Mariano Barreto admitted that playing against lower-tier sides is difficult.
“It was a typical cup match, in cup matches, the small teams normally try to beat the bigger teams".
“In Ghana, in Portugal, in German many times you see third division clubs beating [bigger clubs] and they [Thunderbolt] tried.
“The first forty-five minutes, we did not deserve to be in the game.
“I talked seriously with my players, second half they showed little bit of what we were able to do, we scored three goals but for Thunderbolt, I have to give one word, good job, they created a lot of problems. [for Kotoko].” Baretto said.