29th April 2007
Kofi Appiah’s stunning last-minute winner kept Park View's hopes of retaining the GFS Premiership league cup alive after a Broad Water Farm classic. The Republicans versus Park View encounter was surely going to be a clash of the titans and the match certainly lived up to expectation.
Junior's 15-minute penalty put Park View in front, only for Republicans to draw level after a defensive mix-up in the second half, saw another bizarre push on the Park View keeper. The man in the middle (Referee Carlos) somehow failed to spot the infringement that allowed Mutala to handle the ball into the net for a Republican equaliser.
Tanko was called into action as earlier as the seventh minute, producing a marvellous reaction save to deny Idi from 10 yards out after the midfielder had run onto a knock-down from Steven.
Republicans’ pressure looked certain to pay off - and they eventually took the lead just before the half-hour mark. Enoch Boateng (Obroni) was an ever-present threat, and he took advantage of shambolic Park View defending to grab a crucial second home for Republicans.
Republicans Keeper ‘Spirit’ was then forced to produce two brilliant saves from Junior to keep the tie in the balance. A packed midfield game saw both teams struggle for possession, resulting in some unnecessary hard tackling form both sides, which forced the referee to flash his true colours a few times.
It was a moment of magic that gave Park View a precious equaliser when Kofi Appiah (KK) lashed in a glorious 25-yard free kick past Spirit. Park View then continued the second half in sparkling fashion, and it took a desperate intervention from spirit to divert KK’s half volley wide.
Park View were firing on all cylinders up front - but all the time Republicans, in the shape of Mutala, were waiting to probe their suspect and under-strength Park View defence since Joseph Kisi (Big Joe) had to take an early bath after loosing his footing in an aerial context resulting in a sprain.
Park View pinned Republicans back for long periods after the break but were unable to make the break through. A high-quality encounter saw Junior just fail to get on the end of Charles Alottey's cross and KK bring a crucial block from spirit with a 25-yard power drive.
The Park View boys were giving a master-class; Owusu Afriyie escaping the offside trap took on Philip Frimpong and Samuel Agyemang to create a one-on-one chance against spirit but drove the shot straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.
Park View desperately needed inspiration, and a moment of genius from Charles, Bright, Owusu, Junior and Capt. Kofi (the power house) provided just that. Charles dashed across the face of goal then playing a sumptuous one-two with KK only to volley narrowly over. They mounted a spell of sustained pressure in the closing stages but couldn’t find the all-important goal to seal off the tie.
Spirit then produced a last minute brilliant save, diving to his left to palm away a powerful, rising drive from Junior to ensure the score line remained 2-2.
Park View FC - Goal Scorers
Francis Williams (1st Goal)
Kofi Appiah (2nd Goal)
Park View FC – Line Up
Tanko (Keeper), Osei, Richard, Princeton, Joe, Kofi (Captain), Nana Kofi, Allotey, KK, Moses and Junior (Subs: Agyemang, Owusu, Bright and Steven)
LAUNCH PICTURES