‘It is really a painful defeat to me’ – Samartex coach Annor Walker on Kotoko defeat

After FC Samartex 1996’s 2-1 home defeat to Asante Kotoko, head coach Annor Walker expressed his disappointment in a post-match interview at the Nsenkyire Sports Arena in Samreboi. Enock Morrison and Rocky Dwamena scored for Kotoko, while Ebenezer Acquah found the net for Samartex in the Week 22 league fixture.

As the head coach of the Black Galaxies of Ghana at the 2023 CHAN tournament in Algeria, Walker felt that his team should not have lost the game. He described the defeat as painful, stating that they had given away two cheap goals to Kotoko, which had cost them a lot.

“This is a painful defeat for me because If I am not telling lies this is not a match we should have lost. We gave away two cheap goals to Kotoko and this has cost me a lot. So it is really a painful defeat to me.”

When asked about the absence of striker Seidu Abubakar, Walker acknowledged that it was unfortunate, but pointed out that all 30 players on his team were Samartex players, so everyone needed to be ready to play. He didn’t want to use Abubakar’s absence as an excuse for the defeat.

Regarding Asante Kotoko’s performance, Walker acknowledged that they had come prepared and their game plan had worked for them. He noted that Kotoko needed an early goal, and had kept attacking to achieve that goal, which had resulted in Samartex conceding two cheap goals. However, he felt that his team had played well in the second half and could have drawn the game.

“Kotoko knew that coming here it is not going to be easy and so they were also prepared and I will say their game plan worked for them”

“They needed an early goal which I told my boys that if this game is to travel to the second half at goalless draw they can never score us so Kotoko knew and kept on attacking and we gave out those cheap goals. You can see that in the second half we played all the game and we could have drawn the game”