4 lessons from Hearts of Oak's 1-0 win over Asante Kotoko

4 things we learnt from Hearts of Oak's 1-0 win over Asante Kotoko Sunday, March 5, 2023, saw Accra Hearts of Oak adding another trophy to their cabinet after beating their rivals to win the President's Cup.

Hearts of Oak defended the title they won last year by beating Asante Kotoko who were their opponents last year.

Black Galaxies defender, Konadu Yiadom scored the only goal in the game to win the trophy of the season for Accra Hearts of Oak in a game that saw a lot of chances but terrible conversions.

The Phobians have now accumulated 31 points after 20 games and are occupying the 4th position on the league table while Kotoko have dropped to 5th.

Today, GhanaWeb’s' Joel Eshun looks at four things he observed and learnt in the matchday 20 fixture.

Uniting for a common goal

Accra Hearts of Oak on Sunday, March 5, 2023, showed the entire country that they are a family who can unite against a common enemy to achieve the desired results irrespective of their internal problems.

The Phobians before the Super Clash had too many off-the-field issues following back-to-back defeats to Aduana Stars and Great Olympics.

The defeat infuriated the fans who demanded the sacking of the head coach and proceeded to the training facility at Pobiman to prevent the Serbian from holding his training session on Friday, March 3, 2023.

However, they rallied behind assistant coach David Ocloo to secure the win over Asante Kotoko on Sunday as if nothing had happened two days ago.

Hearts-Kotoko matches not about form

The result on Sunday again affirmed assumptions that clashes between the two teams do not follow form guide but always goes in favour of the team that is more determined on the day.

The Porcupine Warriors were relatively better than their rivals ahead of the Super Clash as Hearts of Oak had suffered back-to-back defeats at the Accra Sports Stadium.

However, Hearts of Oak were the better side on the day after creating the best chances in the game and could have scored more than five but for the performance of Danlad Ibrahim and Mohammed Alhassan.

The Phobians even after scoring in the 56th minute created more chances with Asante Kotoko having a few.

Asante Kotoko's poor away form continues

The defeat to Accra Hearts of Oak in the match week 20 fixture also added to Asante Kotoko's poor form on the road.

In 10 away games, Asante Kotoko under coach Seydou Zerbo have won only two of their games. The wins came against King Faisal and Medeama in the first round of the season.

They have lost four of the away games, 1-0 defeat to Hearts of Oak, 2-0 against Dreams FC, 2-1 against RUT, and losing 1-0 in Ayinase to Karela United while drawing the remaining three.

Coach Zerbo's blame game

Asante Kotoko coach Seydou Zerbo again continued his blame game as it is always someone's fault for his team's defeat.

Zerbo has often blamed referring decisions for his team's defeat and the same happened on Sunday.

He claimed Konadu Yiadom's goal was offside and that they should have been awarded a penalty when Steve Mukwala was brought down in the box by Caleb Amankwa.