#Article (Archive)

Scorpions woes continue as they suffered defeat in AFCON qualifiers

Jun 12, 2017, 11:59 AM

It was the same old story for the Gambia senior national team who has not won a competitive game in four years as they were beaten 1-nil away by Benin in their opening game of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers.

Skipper Stephen Sessegnon 53rd minute strike was all but enough to earn the Squirrels all three points of the encounter played at the Mathew Keriko Stadium in Cotonou.

The Scorpions put up a formidable first half performance, creating chances through Modou Barrow, Mustapha Carayol and Bubacarr Trawally who’s shoots all failed to hit the target.

Goalkeeper Modou Jobe pulled a number of outstanding saves to keep the Scorpions in the game in the first half.

He continued the show in the second period, but was sent in the wrong direction in Sessegnon’s strike that deflected on defender Dawda Ngum leading to the only goal that separated the two sides.

The Scorpions failed to threaten the Benin goalkeeper throughout the entire second period failing to produce a single shoot on target.

The Gambia will be hoping to recover from the defeat when they host Algeria in their second group D fixtures in March 2018, in Banjul.

Meanwhile, Algeria were playing Togo in the other group D fixtures in Algiers as of press time.