Zonal final ends in controversy

A sensational first half goal from Ousman Touray gave Serekunda-East a one-nil advantage in the final game of the second edition of Baby Muhammed Jammeh Perpetual cup competition at the Serekunda-West-Mini-Stadium on Sunday.

The former zonal champions opened the scoring in the 42nd minute through striker Ousman Touray who capitalized on a goalkeeping error by Bakau goalkeeper Yaya Sidebeh to tap in his side’s opener to the frustration of Bakau supporters who blamed the central referee for being too harsh on Bakau players.

Bakau could have leveled the advantage through striker Assan Jatta, who occasionally went, close to putting his name on the score sheet but his efforts were denied by Alagie Jobe on three occasions, becoming many people’s favorite to claim the most outstanding goalkeeper of the tournament award after failing to concede a goal so far.

Bakau that went into this final with the ultimate objective of retaining the title they won in two consecutive years, fought to the best of their ability but all their brilliant attacking options and wonderful scoring opportunities were not good enough to earn them a happy moment and they were made to spent the greater part of the game struggling to replicate the form that saw them claiming the title in two successive seasons.

Serrekunda-East have proven to be the much stronger side of the game upon resumption but the determined Bakau side didn't allow them to net their second of the game. The unfortunate part of the game that was witnessed by a capacity crowd was when it was put to a halt when the assistant referee was involved in discussion with the central referee who later decided to call-off the game after accusing the Bakau supporters of throwing stones at him and his colleagues with only few minutes into the second half.

Buba Jallow, alias Merlez, also has his own share of the problem when he was accused of putting a juju inside Bakau's goal mouth which resulted in a controversy between the two sides.

The supporters of both teams were also involved in a heavy fighting, throwing stones at each other.

According to the Secretary General of GFA, Jammeh Bojang, they are yet to decide the outcome of the incident until they meet to decide what decision to take.