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.
