Africa Sports Floor Mimosas In Abidjan Derby

Africa Sports have humbled their eternal nemesis ASEC Mimosas 1-0 in the first ‘Abidjan derby’ of the 2019/2020 Ivorian Ligue 1 played at the Felix Houphouet Boiny Stadium in Abidjan on Saturday.

Midfielder Diallo Ousmane did the damage through a 65th-minute penalty after a foul on Chikezie Uwandu inside the penalty area.

Africa Sports went toe-to-toe with Mimosas from the get-go as the game was evenly contested in the early stages.

Caroff Sogbossi had one of the first real chances of the game in the 17th minute, but he sent his effort well over the top of the bar.

Some good skill from Barry Kader saw him nutmeg Ablakor Yves before sending a cross into the area, but Charles Mayere missed the ball.

The pace was slowed down towards the half-hour but Sako Oumar had a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock, but he was unable to get on the end of Salifou Diarrassouba’s inviting cross from the left flank.

There were no clear chances in the closing stages of the half as both Armad Boti and Vierra had a relatively easy opening 45 minutes.

In the second half, the slow tempo continued as neither side managed to crack the attacking entry to the fullest.

Mimosas just sat back afterwards but were left with an egg on their face as their defence committed an error that saw Africa Sports awarded a penalty that was easily converted by Diallo.

Abdoul Cissoko came to Africa Sports’ rescue in the 72nd minute, he got down well to keep out Wonyou Tizie’s stinging effort from the edge of the area.

The Mimosas shot-stopper was proving to be the busier of the two goalkeepers afterwards, this time parrying Uwandu’s close-range effort out for a corner.

Gneba Hans almost doubled Africa Stars’ lead in the 85th minute- the striker did well to evade his marker before firing at Bamba, who managed to palm the effort away.

Mimosas enjoyed long spells in possession towards the end of the game but struggled to create clear-cut chances as Africa Sports defended resolutely to claim the win.

Photo: File