The eagerly awaited Banjul league final has failed to produce a winner as Miami made a remarkable recovery from a 1-nil down to hold Babylon to a 1-1 draw at the Gambia Senior Secondary School playground on Sunday.
The league has so far produced some exciting moments of summer championship in the capital city.
Babylon, who dominated the greater part of the game, found themselves taking the lead, thanks to a clinical finish by Lamin Trawally, on the stroke of half time amidst huge celebration from the team’s supporters.
They appeared to be on their way to a famous victory but coach Sulayman Corr and his charges dented their title ambition as they responded with a fine equaliser when Yusupha Sarr’s solo effort at the stoppage time gave Miami a deserved equaliser much to the delight of the supporters of Miami, who won the 2009 knockout title under Corr’s reign.
The league final, which witnessed a huge turnout, is re-scheduled for Friday, 26 November 2010 at the same playground.
“It was indeed a difficult game having come from behind to grab a late equaliser after we conceded an early goal owing to lack of concentration at the back,” said Miami head coach Sulayman Corr, in an interview with reporters shortly after the game.
“We definitely have a big problem in scoring goals at all levels in Gambian football but thank God we managed to launch a late equaliser to put ourselves on the driving seat ahead of Friday’s crucial clash once again,” Corr, who is also the head coach of the GFA division one club, Gamtel, told reporters.The public relations officer of Banjul Sports Committee, Landing Sanyang, explained the reason behind the re-schedule of the final instead of proceeding to penalty shootout. He says the re-scheduling of the match is part of the committee’s effort to raise the needed funds for the completion of the KG5 Mini-stadium currently under rehabilitation.
He described this year’s summer championship in Banjul as “the most successful” championship in the history of Banjul nawettan on the fact that it was “trouble-free and more importantly the organisational aspect was absolutely great compared to the previous years”.