Eric Tinkler Admits Fear as Asante Kotoko Suffer 2-0 Defeat to Aduana FC

Asante Kotoko head coach Eric Tinkler says his team played with fear in their 2-0 defeat to Aduana FC in the Ghana Premier League.

The Porcupine Warriors struggled to find their rhythm from the opening stages, giving the ball away cheaply and allowing Aduana FC to create several opportunities. Their defensive errors eventually proved costly as the home side scored twice to secure all three points.

Tinkler was particularly disappointed with Kotoko’s first-half display, admitting that his players struggled with their passing, movement and overall combination play.

"In the first half, we started very, very poorly. A lot of mistakes, you know; the goal we gave away was very, very cheap. In the build-up today, we struggled in the first half; there was no connection, combination play was poor, movement was very, very poor. We obviously made a few changes to go back to the back-four system.

And I explained to the players at halftime that we needed to have a lot, a lot more combinations and to find the details, quality of our pass, quality of our cross. Second half, loads of chances, loads of chances. We had to obviously take a lot of risks, and we ended up conceding the second goal. You know, better performance in the second half, but the first half was really poor.”

“We started the game as if we were playing with fear. We kept giving the ball away cheaply, gave them opportunities and eventually conceded a cheap goal,” Tinkler said.

The defeat brings an end to Asante Kotoko’s unbeaten start to the Ghana Premier League season. The Porcupine Warriors had recorded one win and two draws in their opening three matches before suffering their first loss against Aduana FC.