Zerbo: Positives to take from Phobians draw

Seydou Zerbo

Monday Sep 26, 2022. 10:57

Asante Kotoko head coach Seydou Zerbo was impressed with the performance of his side after they kicked off their title defence with a 1-1 draw against Hearts of Oak on Sunday.

The Ghana Premier League champions made a late start to the domestic campaign after competing in the CAF Champions League the previous two weekends.

Their African adventure was brief, however, having been eliminated by unfancied RC Kadiogo on penalties in the first qualifying round.

Zerbo, who took over the reins from Prosper Narteh Ogum during the off-season, acknowledged the Porcupine Warriors were disappointing against the Burkinabe champions, but saw a marked improvement from his players on this occasion.

Yussif Mubarik gave the hosts a 57th-minute lead at the Baba Yara Stadium, although they failed to make a winning start to proceedings after Caleb Amankwah equalised for the Phobians two minutes from time.

Zerbo admits there is still plenty of hard work ahead, citing finishing as an area that needs attention, but was buoyed by a better showing from his team at the weekend.

“Yes, last week we all saw the performance of the players, in fact it was very disappointing but today they showed that in deed they are here for action,” he said in the post-match press conference.

“We still need to work on our finishing, you saw that we had a lot of chances but unfortunately we couldn’t use them but we will go back and work in order to utilise our chances in subsequent games.

“I saw a very good match and the rhythm of the game was very active, in fact I am very impressed about today’s game.”