The curtain on the 2015/16 season’s league was drawn last Sunday with Liberty Professionals’ Latif Blessing stealing the show as the top scorer of the season.
Not only did the diminutive attacker emerge as the top scorer but his double hat-trick of the season helped in beating Yahaya Mohammed of Aduana Stars (15 goals) and Bechem United’s Abednego Tetteh (14 goals), all of whom had their sights on the honours.
But Latif would best be remembered for his prowess and beautiful footwork which made him dreaded by most defenders in the league. However, his 17 goals fell short of Ismael Addo’s all-time record of 24 goals, which had stood since 2002.
Latif’s goals notwithstanding, Liberty were not the best scoring club of the season as Aduana Stars, who missed out on the ultimate trophy, would go down as the best scoring team with 42 goals.
Justifiably, New Edubiase, who have been relegated, completed the season with some of the worse records, including scoring the least number of goals in the season with just 18 goals while conceding 45, the highest number of goals conceded by a club in the season.
Deservedly, league champions, Wa All Stars and West Africa Football Academy (WAFA) could be said to possess the best defensive machinery in the league, having conceded just 22 goals-apiece.
Giants Accra Hearts of Oak would take consolation as the best away-performing club, having won six of their 15 away games, while Wa All Stars and Aduana Stars home grounds proved no-go areas for visiting clubs with a record of 11 victories-apiece at home.
Four clubs emerged as the worse away performers as they failed to record a single win away from home. WAFA led the pack of teams in that category with Berekum Chelsea, Techiman City and Hasaacas all failing to record a single victory outside their comfort zones.
On the coaching front, some heavy weights fell casualties following their unimpressive start to the season and these included David Duncan, whose reign was truncated earlier in the season by the management of Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
Dwarfs also axed J.E Sarpong, while Herbert Addo parted ways with Tema-based Inter Allies for similar reasons. Bechem United’s Belgian coach, Erradi Adil, had the shortest stint in the league after he was fired two weeks into his appointment for being hostile and temperamental.
Medeama SC will still be ruing the exit of Coach Tom Strand, who went AWOL when he led Medeama to play their Confederation Cup game against Olando Pirates in South Africa.
And for fans of Hearts, it was a double agony when the club parted ways with two expatriate coaches, Kenichi Yatsuhashie and Sergio Traguil.