PWD Bamenda grabs NW Mini Interpools crown

The oldest club in the Northwest region, PWD of Bamenda aka Abakwa Boys, were crowned Northwest Mini Interpools champions after beating an inexperienced Bangbullets of Nkambe 2-0 in the finals that took place at the Mankon Municipal Stadium on Sunday, November 15.

PWD of Bamenda and its supporters approached the encounter with a lot of caution. This was in order not to make the same mistakes they did two years back when they faced Red Devils of Ngoketunjia.

In 2013, PWD were defeated at home in the final by Red Devils of Ngoketunjia who later on went to pick one of the eight tickets for promotion into League 2.

Thus, PWD players started the game by mounting enormous pressure on their opponents who showed much panic in the early minutes of the game. PWD’s efforts were rewarded at the 10th minute of the game when Benjamin Serge was brought down in the box by Chenny Etienne after overpowering Bangbullet’s central defenders.

As a result of this, PWD was awarded a penalty that was later on transformed by their skipper, Abel Ngoume. The match continued with PWD striving to increase tally, but their efforts were fruitless.

Both sides went for recess with PWD leading by 1-0 as Bangbullets failed to show any signs of goal instincts. The Nkambe side ended the first half without any shot on goal or even off target.

With resumption of play, PWD continued dominating the game but didn’t increase tally until the 55th minute when marksman Benjamin Serge will increase tally with an excellent strike outside the penalty box to make it 2-0.

After 70 minutes of play, seeing his side demolished by the experienced Abakwa Boys, Coach Emmanuel Koni of Bangbullets decided to leave the dug-out to assume the player role as his team fought to turn things around.

Unfortunately, Koni failed to create an impact during his time on the pitch as they failed to reduce the tally.

Bangbullets first shot on target in the encounter at the 75th minute of play.

During the last minutes of the game, PWD almost increased tally, but a superb save from goalkeeper Thierry Shey Koshi, whose heroic performance at the semi- finals largely contributed his team’s ticket to the final, kept the scoreline at 2-0.

Speaking after the game, Coach Koni of Bangbullets pointed out that his side’s defeat was due to inexperience.

“It is not easy to come against an experienced side like PWD and just defeat them easily… I have guys who are still inexperienced and I'm still bringing them up,” Koni explained.

On his part, Coach Roger Fotso of PWD Bamenda congratulated his players for “the great show they put up this afternoon even though our club is facing problems.”

He continued: “We will be looking forward to bringing in some experienced and talented players in order to fortify the team so that we can pick a League 2 ticket at the National Interpools.”

PWD Bamenda is hoping to bounce back into elite football after more than a decade.