Supporters of Hearts go into wild jubilation

Accra, Jan. 9, GNA - Supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak on Sunday went into wild jubilation after the last penalty kick was expertly converted to ensure the club lift the Cup after the final leg of the CAF Confederations Cup at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

The match ended 1 - 1 at the end of regulation time after Kumasi Asante Kotoko as usual took the lead in the second half but Hearts in the "Never Say Die' mood, fetched the equaliser to send the match into the penalty shoot-out.

Hearts keeper, Mohammed Sanni made one save of the first five kicks while his counterpart from the Kotoko camp, George Owu also made a save for another batch of penalty kicks.

The decider came when Kotoko's captain, Joe Hendricks' shot was saved by keeper Sanni with Hearts Michael Donkor finding the net to enable Hearts lift the Cup.

Just after the kick, there was wild jubilation by enthusiastic Hearts supporters amid tooting of cars taxis and tro-tro horns to herald the victory of the Phobians amid songs of "Phobia, Never Say Die, until the bones are rotten".

At the Tema and Ho lorry stations in Accra, jubilant supporters clad in Hearts colours and waving flags, were joined by traders and shoppers to dance to music provided by cassette sellers and drum beating fans. Felix Kwashie, a lotto writer said history repeats itself since it was Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio who led Hearts four years ago to lift the Champions League trophy and it was no wonder that he has again led Hearts to be the first to lift the Confederations Cup.

Osei Ampadu from Koforidua said Hearts lived up to expectation and lived up to their motto that enabled them improve over their first leg match in Accra a week ago to triumph over their arch-rivals in Kumasi. Some of the Kotoko supporters cursed their stars for allowing the cup slip between their hands at their home grounds while others blamed their coach, Hans-Dieter Schmidt for letting them down when he substituted Charles Taylor when Kotoko were in the lead.