Ghana deputy skipper Andre Ayew has disclosed why the team struggled in the second half of the game against Ethiopia in their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier following the poor state of the pitch.
The Black Stars defeated the Walias of Ethiopia 2-0 on Sunday in Addis Ababa to enhance their chances of the qualifying to their eighth straight AFCON tournament.
Crystal Palace striker Jordan Ayew strike twice in the first half of the game, however, in the second half coach Kwesi Appiah and his lads had to stay back and soak in waves of pressure from the Eastern Africans.
Ayew, who led the side in place of Asamoah Gyan says the nature of the pitch did not help their style of play.
"The pitch was difficult to play on, we knew that at the start of the game that due to our coach's tactics, we needed to score a goal in the first 30 minutes and we did our best to do that and we got the second after a counter attack," he said after the game.
"I think it affected our play, Ghana is a team who like to posses and play football but the pitch was bad so we had to show maturity and experience."
"When you get to this level, what is important is, we needed the three points to qualify for AFCON and that is what we did," the no.10 added.
Ghana have leapfrogged Ethiopia to second place with six points after three games, just a point behind leaders Kenya who they face next in the qualifiers in Kumasi.