Player assaults ref in Ghana FA Cup

A Ghana FA Cup round of 16 tie between Aduana Stars and lower tier side Istanbul FC had to end abruptly following an assault on the centre referee.

Referee Patrick Kojo Kyeremanteng was at the receiving end of a physical attack by Istanbul player identified as Henry Amenyo.

The incident happened after the player was shown a straight red card for the same offence on an opponent in the game at the Agyeman Badu Park in Dormaa on Sunday.

The game, which had had Aduana in the lead by 1-0, had progressed to the 70th minute at the time of the incident.

Per referee Kyeremanteng’s account, Amenyo who had been overtaken by emotions, stepped on an opponent’s head before extending his anger on him.

“Aduana had been awarded a corner kick and prior to it being taken, I saw Istanbul’s No 6 shirted player land a punch on an opponent [Derrick Twum] so I showed him the red card,” he told Sikka FM.

”After the red card, he further used his boots to stamp on the player who had fallen to the ground. Aduana players rushed on me to complain about the Istanbul player’s conduct but I warded them off since it was going to be captured in my report.

“I called for the medics to attend to the [Aduana] player and stepped away in order to record the incident. This same player [Henry Amenyo] followed me questioning the decision to send him off but before I realised, he held me by the jaw, raised my head and a huge punch followed. I fell to the ground right after and was a bit dazed. The game couldn’t continue due to the incident,” the centre referee narrated.

In other FA Cup round of 16 games, Tamale Utrecht Academy secured a 2-0 victory over Premier League side BA United in Tamale while Hearts travelled to pip Afienya United by a lone goal.

Three games – Ashanti Gold v Inter Allies, Kotoko v RTU and Astronomers v Medeama have been rescheduled by the MTN FA Cup committee. The draw for the quarterfinals will however be held on Wednesday.

Results of matches played

Afienya City 0-1 Hearts of Oak

Eleven Wise 3-1 Samartex

Tamale Utrecht 2-0 BA United

WAFA 3-0 Mighty Jets

Aduana – Istanbul (Ended abruptly)