A David Abagna injury-time penalty gave returnees Real Tamale United (RTU) a 1-1 draw against Great Olympics in the opening round of the 2021/22 Ghana Premier League (GPL).
Sunday night marked the return of topflight football at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium for the first time since June 2013 when the Pride of the North suffered relegation to the Division One League.
Backed by a partisan crowd, RTU failed to make it count.
And things went south quite early as the Dade Boys stunned their hosts with the opening goal. Raymond Okoe Grippman rose high to head home a well-taken corner kick by George Asamoah in the 28th minute.
The charged home crowd were stunned into silence.
RTU created chances of their own but were just poor in the final third.
With the game at 1-0 heading into stoppage time, substitute Roland Frimpong was hacked down in the Olympics box by defender Hamza Zakari and referee George Vormawor spontaneously awarded a spot-kick.
Star midfielder David Abagna, who joined from AshantiGold earlier this month, stepped up and neatly despatched the penalty by sending goalkeeper Stephen Kwaku the wrong way.
1-1 the game ended.
Real Tamale United will be on a long journey to Accra to face off with Legon Cities while Great Olympics host Accra Lions FC in a derby in the match-day two fixtures on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Below is the complete results of the opening round of the 2021/22 GPL:
📸🗣| 2021/22 #GPLwk1 results + basic stats:
– 17 goals recorded in 9 games
* 10 of the goals were scored by home teams and 7 by away sides.
– Home WINS: 3; DRAW: 4; AWAY WINS: 2
.#FootyGhana | https://t.co/cOdDhcSTGq | #FootyGPL pic.twitter.com/tPiBnM6TgV
— Footy-Ghana.com 🇬🇭 (@FootyGhana) October 31, 2021
