The Gambia was held to a 2-2 draw in Conakry last evening in their most crucial Ghana 2008 qualifiers outing.

However, under the influence of their new head coach Jose Martinez, the Scorpions of The Gambia started the game filled with determination.

Although they conceded the first goal in the 9th minute of the first half by Guinea’s Dawda Diabi, the Gambia steadily developed and maintained good performance till the end of the first half.

At the resumption of the second half, the effort of the Scorpions bore fruit in the 55th minute when Edrissa Sonko netted in the equaliser.

Two minutes later though Foday Mansale of Guinea-Conakry fired in again the second goal for his side putting them ahead of the Scorpions.

But the lead of the Guineans was short-lived as the Gambian squad piled more pressure till they got another superb goal in the 82nd minute through Modou Jagne who took a long short right into the net of the Guineans that cut short their hope of achieving victory.

At the end of the match, the head coach of The Gambia, Jose Martinez, who spoke to this reporter, expressed satisfaction over the performance of his boys.

He said both teams played well but The Gambia were more committed to winning the game.

He said he was not surprised with the performance of the boys, adding that mathematically, The Gambia are yet to go out of the race as they would go all out to get extra six points in their remaining matches against Cape Verde and Algeria.

The Guinea Coach however declined to comment when this reporter approached him to give his view about the match.

Meanwhile, The Gambia would be taking on Cape Verde in Praia on 16 June 2007.

Results:

Cote d’Ivoire 5¬ - 0 Madagascar

Mauritania 1-1 Egypt

Burundi 1-0 Botswana

Uganda 2-1 Nigeria

Sudan 3-0 Mauritius

Tunisia 4-0 Seychelles

Rwanda 2-0 E. Guinea

Liberia 1-2 Cameroon

Swaziland 0-0 Kenya

Eritrea 1-1 Angola

Tanzania 1-1 Senegal

Mozambique 3-0 Burkina Faso

Guinea 2-2 Gambia

Cap Verde 2-2 Algeria

Sierra Leone 0-1 Togo

Ethiopia 1-0 RD Congo

Namibia 1-0 Libya

South Africa 4-0 Chad

Zambia 3-0 Congo

Morocco 2-0 Zimbabwe