This week was a terrible one for the traveling teams as none of them were able to even forge a draw with all eight home teams winning their match and it could not have been any better for BA United who defeated league commanders AshantiGold to put their “operation stay in the league” campaign back on track.
Thanks to this important win, the Apostles of Power Soccer outscored all the fifteen remaining clubs to win the Club of the Week award for Match-day 12 and happily for David Duncan, he equals Mas-Ud Didi Dramani’s record of most consecutive wins for the club this season.
BA United best win of the season
United won the award with 375 ranking points after beating the strongest opponent available with Ashantigold coming into this game as league leaders after eleven games losing just two games (the lowest) and came with the biggest Opposition Strength(O.S) of 1.875.
Having changed two coaches (Frimpong Manson and Mohammed Gargo) after 10 games, new coach Stephen Ahenkan is already aware of the challenges that await him in a club that possesses one of the raucous crowds in the Ghana premier league and this win achieved by the solitary goal of Italy Serie A trialist Selorm Gerardo should boost the morale of the club to face tricky side WAFA.
BA United continue to occupy the 15th spot in the relegation zone with 10 points despite this cleans sheet win.
Great Olympics head into Top 4
Olympics emerged second best performed side with 250 ranking points following their 1-0 win against 6th-placed Wa All Stars to make a statement that, their 1-0 away win against Liberty last week was a meritorious and deserving one. The fact that coach Yaw Acheampong’s Olympics kept a cleans sheet against All Stars also enhanced their ranking points and All Stars who were placed 6th had a strong O.S of 1.25 meaning Olympics defeated a tougher adversary.
The popular club are now 6th on the league standings with 18 points and are seven points behind league toppers Ashantigold.
Hasaacas are third on the rankings with their 225 points thanks to a 3-1 home win they posted over Top 4 candidates WAFA who came with an O.S of 1.5 –the fourth strongest.
Giants Asante Kotoko on the rise
This weekly ranking is one veritable and reliable tool use to assess the match by match performance of your team and in the case of Kotoko, the tables show clearly that the club is on the rise having won two matches on the trot which is the only second time the porcupine warriors have done that this season and are ranked 6th best side this week with 150 points.
Under Masud Didi Dramani, Kotoko won two matches consecutively for once out of the seven games they played under the former coach and just after his first two matches new coach David Duncan has equaled that record with wins over Bechem United and Liberty Professionals and this obviously indicates a significant improvement in the team’s performance.
Kotoko now on 19 points are just a step outside the Top 4 and are lagging Ashantigold at the summit by just six points and while this huge leap by Kotoko is understandably explained by the fact that they received three points from the board room in their game against Berekum Chelsea which eneded 1-1 due to the latter’s failure to settle a debt on time.
Hearts of Oak continue to sink
Things are getting too bad for the 20-time league champions. Out of possible 36 points from 12 matches, coach Herbet Addo and his team have only ceased 15 while losing 21 points. That is BAD.
Tema-based Inter Allies were able to establish themselves are the new pain inflictors of Hearts of Oak as they defeated them 2-1 to reach 20 points at the 4th position on the league log.
Ashantigold,Bechem United,Liberty,All Stars,WAFA,Medeama all lost their games and got no ranking points.
1.BA UNITED – 375
2.GREAT OLYMPICS – 250
3.HASAACAS - 225
4.HEART OF LIONS – 225
5.EDUBIASE – 175
6.ASANTE KOTOKO- 150
7.INTER ALLIES – 37.5
8.ADUANA STARS – 18.75
9.BEREKUM CHELSEA – 0
10.HEARTS OF OAK – 0
11.WAFA – 0
12.ASHANTIGOLD – 0
13.ALL STARS – 0
14.LIBERTY – 0
15.MEDEAMA – 0
16.BECHEM UNITED – 0
By Raubil Gariba (www.sportsworldghana.com)