Goals from Bakary Jatta and Modou Lamin Marong gave Baby Scorpions a 2-0 win over Mauritania to move within a step closer to securing a place in the semifinals of the WAFU A U-17 Cup of Nations in Senegal.
After an opening day 4-2 defeat to the hosts, the victory means Gambians will secure a place in the last four if Senegal avoids defeat against Mauritania on Tuesday. However, a win for the latter would see all three teams finish on three points apiece and the top two finishers could be determined by a tiebreaker.
Lai Bojang’s charges dominated the match from start to finish with Jatta opening the scoring after 22 minutes from a free kick just outside the area. Adama Bojang and Abdoulie Bojang both came close to increasing the advantage but failed to convert gilt-edged chances.
However, the 2005 and 2007 African champions picked from where they left after the restart but it took a last gasp goal from substitute Marong to put the game to bed in the 89th minute.
Mauritania was forced to play the final 12 minutes with a numerical disadvantage after their captain was sent off. Gambia’s Sanna Ceesay was voted man-of-the-match.
Speaking in a post-match interview, Lai Bojang said the team defended very well which earned them the points. “We had a problem during our first game, we weren’t having depth at the defense but today was a different case,” he began.
“T-Boy [the assistant coach and a former defender] did a very good job with them; he worked with the defenders and I work with the strikers so you can see that we’ve rectified those mistakes and today we improved a lot. Looking at the first game we conceded four goals, [but] today we didn’t concede any and the Mauritanians didn’t have a clear cut chance.”