It’s advantage Satellites - after 3-1 win over Benin

The national U-20 side, Black Satellites, put up a spirited performance against Benin last Saturday as they earned a deserved 3-1 comeback victory in their first leg Africa Youth Championship (AYC) at the Cape Coast Stadium last Saturday.

A brace by Richard Danso helped the hosts to a convincing victory at home and gave the Satellites a two-goal advantage over their opponents going into the second leg on Sunday.

Danso, who was impressive throughout the game, scored the equalising goal in the 59th minute after the visitors took the lead in the first half through Saliou Allagbani who tapped in from close range in the 28th minute.

The WAFA forward sealed an emphatic victory for his side when he curled a nice ball after 84 minutes to score his second goal of the day.

In a game which saw the Satellites fail to get their passes right in the first half, Benin capitalised on the Ghanaians' haste to score to get the opener in the early stages of the match, which unsettled Jimmy Cobblah’s players throughout the opening half.
But the introduction of Liberty Professionals' Elvis Kyei Barfour at the start of the second half brought life into the team and together with Danso caused the Beninois a lot of problems.

After the equalising goal in the 59th minute, Benin's goalie, Abiola Katchon, denied Maxwell Arthur a nice header with a brilliant save which prevented the Satellites from taking the lead in the 63rd minute.

The Satellites however came into the game with full force in search of the winner as the visitors stuck to a game plan of wasting time and avoiding a loss.

But the Satellites got the breakthrough in the 72nd minute when skipper Issahaku Konda tapped in from a corner to put the hosts in a clear lead after a shaky start.

The 3-1 win over Benin makes the Ghana side favourites to qualify to the next year's Africa Championship to be staged in Niger ahead of the second leg to be played on Sunday.