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Duncan’s charges equal Kotoko’s poorest league start-1974

Pulse Sports writer Thomas Freeman Yeboah looks back four decades to find the last time Asante Kotoko had a poor start to the season like the ongoing 2016 Ghana Premier League season. The year is the infamous 1974.

After four games this season, the Porcupine warriors have lost two and recorded draws in the other two. This poor start is similar to the infamous 1974 season in the club’s history.

1974 league season

Day 1

Asante Kotoko 0-1 Dwarfs

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Day 2

Hasaacas 2-0 Asante Kotoko

Day 3

Kotoko 1-1 All Blacks

Day 4

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Asante Kotoko 1-1 Corners

Day 5

Susubiribi 2-2 Asante Kotoko

Day 6

Asante Kotoko 1-1 Bofoakwa

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Day 7

Hearts 1-1 Asante kotoko

Day 8

Asante Kotoko 2-0 Fankobaa

The win, draw or lose feat from 1974 is the same [with regards to statistics above] as what Asante Kotoko, under Coach David Duncan, are currently going through

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The only difference is that in 1974 a win was credited with 2 points, whereas a draw went for a point. In the ongoing Ghana Premier League season, a win goes for 3 points, while a draw credits a point.

Since Kotoko’s league participation in 1958 they haven’t started poorly like the 1974 season and the ongoing season, after four league games. Kotoko would finish 7th by the end of the season, which remains their worst position in a season they exhausted all their league matches. Although Kotoko in 1970 and 1971 finished 11th and 7th, respectively on the league log they were more than 5 games short of the rest of the clubs due to their active involvement in Africa in these two seasons.

The Porcupine Warriors are on two points in the current Ghana Premier League season, lying 14 on the league after four games, a situation which is unacceptable to the fans, management and board of the club.

The last time Asante Kotoko got pinned to the drop zone was in the 2010-11 season.  Although Kotoko were a game short of the others after the first half of the season, their performance was nothing to write about and found themselves in 14th position, after 14 games.

The Kotoko faithful are enduring a lot of pain, especially with their bitterest rivals Accra Hearts of Oak have rediscovered their good form under the Japanese-American trainer Kenichi Yatsuhashi. They have won three and drawn one of their opening four league games and are sitting at the top of the Ghana Premier League table.

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The last time the position of these two clubs on the league log went against Kotoko in a similar fashion was the 2008-09, when Hearts of Oak were on their way to winning their last league title.

Hearts of Oak were lying 1, while Kotoko were 9 after 18 league games, but coach Herbert Addo’s presence gave them the tonic to give the Phobians a hot chase.

It is incumbent that coach David Duncan turns the fortunes of Kotoko around, after doing so well to earn them runners up spot on the league log last season. Per statistics, he accumulated more points than any other coach in the Ghana Premier League last season, after joining the Porcupine warriors on match day 11- 36 points.

His closest rival to that statistics was Bashiru Hayford who had 30 points from match day 11 to match day 30 for Ghana Premier League Champions Ashgold..

He  was pardoned for failing to retain Asante Kotoko’s league title, something they had won in the last three seasons.

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David Duncan will have no excuse this season after getting busy in the transfer market to sign the best of materials in the system that enabled them to sweep virtually all the pre-season contest they participated in. Kotoko were tagged as the overwhelming favourites for the season with respect to their pre-season performance.

Duncan should get back to the drawing board and get things back on track as it would be totally unacceptable for Asante Kotoko faithful to wait until match day 8, before earning their first league win, as it happened in 1974.

Last season Didi Dramani started the season without a win in two games. He however snatched a victory at Sunyani against B.A United to bring the team back to winning ways. Subsequent inconsistency from his team later cost him his job.

There was crisis meeting at the Kotoko secretariat on Monday, after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Berekum Chelsea and there were reports that David Duncan was given three-match ultimatum to make amends or be shown the exit door for poor show.

Although the communications head of the club Kwaku Ahenkora has denied the reports, Duncan’s job is on the line. Kotoko can’t afford to swim in the waters of poor results, especially at the moment that Hearts of Oak are selling out good football to their fans.

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David Duncan will be presented with another opportunity when they engage Hasaacas at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Friday and that would be much easier game to get his first win of the season to help bring back the spirit of the team.

However he should be on the lookout, since Hasaacas managed to hold Didi Dramani’s side to a 2-2 draw at the same venue when Kotoko were desperately searching for their first win last season.

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