Déjà vu for Real: Whites Win Golden Jubilee Cup Final
In a year when the country was marking the celebrations for the golden jubilee anniversary of the domestic Gambian cup competition, it was a déjà vu for Real de Banjul who had won the inaugural tournament in the 1968/69 season. It took an Abdoulie Bah spot kick 15 minutes from the end to hand the Whites a 1-0 defeat of Red Hawks and a place in the preliminary rounds of the CAF Confederations Cup of 2019/20.
Real were awarded a penalty by referee Modou Lamin Jobe when the energetic Alieu Federa was brought down in the box. Bah kept his head composure and sent Lamin Fofana in goal the wrong way much to the delight of the Real supporters watching under the floodlights at Bakau’s Independence Stadium, including former players Ebou Sillah and Musa Bajaha
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Real were the better side, dominating possession and creating numerous scoring chances through the trio of Pa Modou Sohna, Samba Jawneh and Babou Cham and most especially, the direct runs at defenders by the indefatigable Alieu Fadera was a turn in the flesh for the Red Hawks defenders.
Red Hawks on the other hand were very solid on the night defensively and stretching Real on the break by creating a couple of decent chances but all failed to hit the target. On yesterday night’s performance, the future for Red Hawks, and to a large extent its senior team, Hawks is very bright.
After the game, Real’s stand-in Coach Musa Njie expressed his excitement with the win. “I’m very proud and I do not even have the words to express how delighted I am. I want to thank the management and the players for a job well done,” he said.
His counterpart on the bench for Red Hawks, Modou Bah stressed that his team was just unfortunate. “I’m very proud of the boys; they really performed up to expectations but we are just unfortunate to concede the penalty.”
Match winner Abdoulie Bah also spoke to www.gambiaff.org and said he is happy scoring the winning goal. “I’m very happy about the goal and I am grateful to the management, staff and all my fellow players because we have worked hard for this after losing the league [by a single point to Brikama United]. I’m expecting myself in another level next season because I want to represent my country in future,” he said of his chances of turning professional in the not too distant future.
