Ghana romped to a 3-0 win over a hapless Libya at the Ohene Djan Stadium in the opening first round fixture of the qualifiers for the Africa U-17 Championship.
The scoreline could have been more had the Black Starlets been more purposeful with their final deliveries.
Notwithstanding, it was a result coach E.K Afranie had been hoping for as he seeks to build on the first leg advantage ahead of the return game in Tripoli on September 12.
For 90 minutes, the best part of home crowd at the Ohene Djan Stadium – the venue for the 2008 finals of the African Nations Cup match – only could forget about the misses and savour victory.
Until then it was a simple story of Ghana enjoying themselves immensely against a Libyan team who accepted they were second-best without too much resistance as their goalkeeper became a hero with some brilliant saves.
First half strikes from Frank Acheampong and Felix Adjei with the third coming the second period of the game through substitute, Kwame Nzor handed Ghana a deserving win.
Acheampong opened the scoring in the 6th minute of the game. Mohammed Alhassan put in a great work on the right side of the box before cutting back for Acheampong to turn and hit low shot that grazed the inside of the upright before rolling into the back of the net.
Ghana doubled their lead eight minutes later with Felix Adjei connecting home from a free-kick taken by Black Starlets captain Kwame Nkrumah sending the Black Starlets into recess with a 2-0 lead.
The second period began with Ghana coach E.K Afranie sending on striker, Kwame Nsor in the 58th minute and the substitute’s first touch of the ball produced the third goal for the Black Starlets.
Nsor soared above his marker to nod home from a corner kick, just a minute after coming on.
Libya showed some brilliance as Mohamed Ghani’s near miss in the 76th minute denied them what could have been a morale boosting goal.
Despite the miss, Libyan goalkeeper, Emmadir Ragab produced some wonderful saves in the last ten minutes of the game when he pulled saves to deny the Ghana any sight of goal in the 81st, 83rd and 88th minutes.
The winner over both legs will advance to meet the winner of the clash between Gambia and Sierra Leone in the final qualifying round for a place to the 8th Africa U-17 Championship to be hosted by Algeria in 2009.
Black Starlets line up:
James Nkansah, Kwame Frimpong/Aaron Amoah, Isaac Eshun, Ibrahim Moro, Ainooson Abeiku, Masawudu Basit, Mohammed Alhassan/Moro Mubarak, Mohammed Fatau, Mahatma Otoo, Frank Acheampong, Felix Adjei/Kwame Nsor