By Bakah Derick
North West flag bearers in the ongoing Elite One championship will be up against tough opponents this weekend.
PWD Bamenda will take on Cotonsport of Garoua while Yong Sports Academy (YOSA) will confront Colombe of Sagmalima this Saturday 23 April 2022. The North West sides ranked third in their respective groups look forward to keeping their positions or moving up the classification tables which will remain important for them in the competition moving forward.
With 11points and ranked sixth, the recharged Garoua side comes into the fixture with the hope of displacing the Abakwa Boys with 13points from the third place they have enjoyed since their day-9 draw against Renaissance de Ngoumou. With Cotonsport's recent form, PWD will need a fully combative structure if they must hold back "Ngia P." The fixture programmed for the Molyko stadium in Buea will in no small way be another moment for the two historic clubs enhance the relationship with their fans following recent performances. Cotonsport players and their technical are still comforted by their 2-0 win against Bamboutos of Mbouda. The match starts at 4pm Buea Time.
With four meetings recorded between the sides in recent times in the Elite One championship, PWD Bamenda is yet to get a win against Cotonsport. Cotonsport has gone away with two wins and the two other games ending in draws. The heaviest defeat was recorded in November 2019 in Garoua where Cotonsport beat PWD 5-0.
YOSA FC will be at the Ngoa-Ekelle military stadium in Yaounde to take on Colombe of Sangmalima. Currently ranked tenth with 10points, Colombe is expected to put up a manly performance against a YOSA that has so far been doing fairly well since the start of the competition. With 17points; two away from pool A leaders Les Astre of Douala, Coach Nkabyo Martin are coming into the game with the hope to taking the driving seat. After their 1-0 win against Racing of Bafoussam, Colombe will want to do better when they take on YOSA from 3:30pm.
Saturday's game will be the ninth merit g between the sides since 2017. During the last eight meeting, Colombe clinched three wins while Young Sports Academy won two matches. Three of the matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches both teams scored a 2.25 goals per match with the 3-1 win for Colombe in December 2019 being the fixture with the highest number of goals.