Analyzing Tamale City’s Chances of qualifying for the Premiership
Tamale City FC is one of the teams contending for the Premiership qualification in zone one this season, with the competition getting tougher each and every weekend, we take a look back to their performance in the first round to see where things went wrong and how they can make amendments to boost their chances of qualifying.
The team since it’s taking over in 2018 has seen many positives, the ultimate aim has always been to qualify for the Premiership and had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic and the Anass no. 12 exposee, they would have been in the Premier League by now.
This season has also been a great year for the Cityzens as they have managed to end the first round on fourth position with only a point separating them from top placed team Berekum Arsenals.
They had a poor start of the season playing 0-0 against Kintampo FC which wasn’t a good show for a team in dying need of a Premiership slot.
They then followed that with a defeat against
Nkoranza worriors before recording their first win against Young Apostles at home. It was thought that the team had regained their rhythm but they had another poor performance against Nsoatreman FC leading to their second defeat in the opening four games.
With such an abysmal performance in the first four games, a derby match was all that they needed to change their season, playing against a high flying Real Tamale United who by then was able to win all three of their games.
It was believed Tamale City won’t be a difficult side for Shaibu Tanko’s team, but as always known in derby games form doesn’t matter.
The game ended with Tamale City piping their neighbors with a goal to nill.
That famous win at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium helped changed Hamza Mohammed’s side season around, they went on to play in additional five games without a defeat until match day eleven when they were surprisingly beaten 2-0 by B. A United at the Sunyani Coronation Park.
The defeat to B.A United was their third in the season. That defeat also until the end of the first round happened to be their last in the first half of the season.
One thing worth noting about Tamale City’s performance this season is that, they are yet to lose against any of the top five team’s. Something which has a great potential of handing them a chance to qualify to the Premiership.
As the saying goes, that “if you want to be the best you must always beat the best or beat your closed contenders”.
They won 1-0 against RTU, played a 1-1 draw against Steadfast Fc, played another 1-1 away to Berekum Arsenals and beat Bofoakwa Tano by 2-1 at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium.
They have also managed to record nine wins in the first round accumulating a total of 27 points in those nine wins.They have also played draw in three matches and tasted three defeats.
Hamza Mohammed’s men has picked up four away wins and one away draw with an accumulated points of 13 which is massive. They have also recorded 5 home wins with two draws also accumulating to 17 points.
The team is yet to taste defeat at home with all their three defeats coming from away.
The team has a clear case to claim their supremacy over their opponents at the top, but for them to make a strong case they must avoid the following:
1. Avoid defeats to inferior teams in the Zone such as B.A United, Nsoatreman FC and take the home advantage to beat Nkoranza worriors
2. The team has conceded fourteen times so far, comparing it to a Bofoakwa Tano who are placed below them and have only conceded eight goals. Leaders Berekum Arsenals have also conceded eight goals with Steadfast conceding nine and RTU ten. Due to the exposed nature of their defense they have only kept three clean sheets in their fifteen games which is far lower to Steadfast six and Berekum Arsenals seven.
3. They must take all three points against Kintampo FC away from home.
In the second round,they will be playing seven away matches, they have won against four of the seven teams and also drawn against the other three. Also they will be playing eight home games, three of the teams to visit them have also beaten them in the first round, so for them to continue their pursuit for the Premiership slot, they will have to beat Nsoatreman, B.A United and Nkoranza worriors at home to keep their chances alive.
They will also have to continue their fine form against the top five team’s in the Zone whom they managed to played unbeaten against in the first round, atleast drawing against them all will be a great results to boost their chances.
With the eight games they will be playing at home, the games against RTU and B.Arsenals are sure and destined to be tough, but the other six home games must be nothing but a win for Hamza Mohammed’s side.
They also will have a strong chance of winning two of their seven away games, against Paga Crocodiles Stars and Kintampo FC. But games against Unity FC, Bofoakwa Tano, Steadfast, Wamanafo Mighty Royals and Young Apostles are poised to cause them much problems.
Players like Sam Otis must up their game to enable them score more goals to boost their chances of getting their Maiden qualification to the Ghanaian topflight.
Hamza Mohammed’s side must atleast be targeting 20 points at home and atleast 10 points away from home.
By Saaka Yakubu Issah