Just a week ago, The Gambia national men’s football team was camped in El Jadida, Morocco, as part of a three-match series in preparations for its maiden AFCON campaign in Cameroon in January.
Assan Ceesay, Dembo Darboe, Musa Barrow, Ebou Adams and Abdoulie Jallow were all part of the 26-man squad. And following their returns to their respective clubs earlier last week, the quartet where all on the scoresheet in what proved to be a very successful post-international break club competition for them.
Darboe made his official debut in the 2-1 defeat to Sierra Leone before been recalled by his Belarusian club Shaktyor Soligorsk, thus missing the Scorpions win over South Sudan. His early return to Belarus was what the former Real de Banjul protégé needed to get going again as he brought his five-match scoreless run to an end in the weekend’s 3-1 romp of Torpedo Belaz.
Darboe first converted from the penalty spot after 51 minutes to give his side the lead and doubled their advantage a minute later. With the win, Shaktyor has opened up a seven-point advantage over second place Bate Borisov and still have the advantage of two games in hand.
With only four matches remaining for their nearest challengers, Soligorsk is well and truly on its way to defending their title in few weeks’ time. Should they win their third ever Belarusian league title when the season comes to an end in the winter, the main protagonist in firing them to the promised land would be the Gambian international whose brace has increased his tally for the season to 18 goals in 23 matches. He is also currently the leading goal scorer in the league.
Ebou Adams also scored the winner as leaders Forest Green Rovers won 2-0 at bottom place Scunthorpe in the English League 2. The Rovers are top of the 24-team English fourth tier table with 26 points from 12 matches, two ahead of second place Harrogate Town.
Elsewhere, in Switzerland, Gambia’s all-time leading scorer Assan Ceesay scored the only goal as FC Zurich defeated Lugano 1-0 in the Super League. Ceesay, who has 11 goals to his name as a Scorpion, found the back of the net eight times and provided four more assists for Zurich in 10 matches this season. Zurich is second on the with 20 points, two behind leaders Basel.
Abdoulie Jallow gave Seraing the lead on the half-hour mark away to Union Saint-Gilloise but the hosts recovered from going two behind and a numerical disadvantage to secure a 4-2 come-from-behind win. Jallow collected the ball in his own half and ran through more than half of the length to blast home with his left foot. Seraing has 12 points from 11 matches and is 14th on the 18-team Belgian top flight table.
The final Scorpion to be on the scoresheet is Musa Barrow who gave Bologna a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute away to Udinese but the home side ensured a share of the spoils with a Beto goal eight minutes from time. Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side is 9th on the 20-team Serie A table with 12 points from eight matches.
