The Scorpions of The Gambia last evening inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Leone stars of Sierra Leone in an international friendly match as part of the countries’ preparations for World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations 2010 qualifiers. 

Mohammed Lamin Sillah gave the Gambia an early lead in the second minute of the game. Despite the lead, the scorpions had numerous opportunities to score, especially through striker Abdou Darboe in both first and second halves of the game. The first half, which ended 1-nil in favour of Gambia, was dominated by the scorpions.

At the resumption of the game, Ebrima Sohna registered his name on the score-sheet in the 50th minute of the match.
Alex Sesay scored the only goal for the Leone stars with only five minutes to play.

Coach Lamin Sarr, who led the Scorpions to victory, said the development was ‘very’ good for the country’s football.
He said: “I am very confident that The Gambia will produce a solid team for qualifiers come next year.”
He added that the country can make it if the teams have series of test matches and good preparation.

He commended Africell for coming up with the initiative and called on other institutions to emulate them in order to ease the FA and the Government of the burden. 
Reacting to the defeat, Coach Mohammed Kanuh of Sierra Leone described the Gambian team as a good side and pointed out that the Scorpions’ only weakness lays in scoring goals.

“The Gambia should work on improving their scoring abilities,” he advised.
Commenting on his team’s performance, Coach Kanuh said he was not impressed with the performance, attributing the teams’ unimpressive performance to lack of league competition in Sierra Leone.

He said the defeat should serve as a challenge and will help him greatly in building the team for the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations 2010 qualifiers.