Gambia and Leeds United winger Mustapha Carayol’s dream to score his first goal on his competitive debut for the Scorpions was realised on Friday.
Carayol, 27, on loan from Middlesrough, ran the entire length of the
field and slot home with his right foot on the hour mark to ensure parity for the Scorpions in a 2-1 loss away to Mauritania at the Olympic Stadium in Nouakchott. The hosts had gone ahead when Bessad Khalil capitalised on a Kebba Ceesay error to beat past Modou Jobe in
the Gambian goal and slot home into an empty net.
“I am excited and looking forward to the game against Mauritania and have a play. I think it is going to be a very good game,” Carayol told Observer Sports before the game.
“Every game is a must win game because you don’t want to go and play to lose. We are going to try and win the game because we have a lot of attacking players.”
Carayol further told Observer Sports in a pre-game interview that he was looking forward to scoring his first goal, which is very important for him and he did exactly that.
He was denied a deserved brace when he had a second goal incorrectly ruled out for off sight by the Liberian referee. At that point, the game was evenly poised in the balance with the scores tied at 1-1 and
the Maurabitones went on to capitalise on a slipup by substitute Muhammed Conteh to snatch a 96th minute winner through Bessad.
The former Lincoln City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town forward made his first ever appearance for the Scorpions in a 1-1 friendly draw with Uganda in June 2015. He didn’t make the match day squad and had to watch the game from the stands as the Scorpions
opened their campaign in the Afcon qualifiers with a goalless stalemate in South Africa few days later.
He failed to make the subsequent squads until his recent return but as he remembers Nouakchott’s Olympic Stadium as the stadium where he scored his first goal in an international game, Muzzy would be the biggest star attraction when the Scorpions host the Maurabitones in
the return leg on Tuesday at Bakau’s Independence Stadium.
Carayol, who was taken off in the second half, described Coach Sang Ndong as “a very good coach who knows what he wants and sets his team
to play good football.”
by Alieu Ceesay in Nouakchott
