Hearts 3 Sportive 1

Defending league champions, Accra Hearts of Oak on Sunday put up a superlative first performance to overcome Tema Real Sportive with a 3-1 win in the 21st week Premier League match at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra.

Sportive who had been a thorn in the flesh of Hearts since they joined the premiership, were this time round no match for the Phobians in the first half, as Hearts subjected them to an all attacking game and succeeded in getting the opener in the seventh minute when Lawrence Adjah-Tetteh's grounder zoomed straight into the net after the visitors' defence survived a goal-mouth melee.

Even though Sportive responded positively and made some attempts at scoring the Hearts defence stood firm and turned the heat on the visitors in the 18th minute to increase the tally through the combined efforts of Prince Tagoe and Adjah Tetteh. This came about when the latter's set up saw Tagoe delivering a mid air shot to beat Hearts 'reject', keeper Laud Quarter in post for Sportive.

The Phobians sustained the pressure on the visitors and pressed for more goals, which never came until the 33rd minute when Tagoe went round a defender of Sportive and placed an accurate pass on the path of Francis Bossman to slot home the third goal and eventually merged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match.

Hearts dominated the rest of the action till the close of the first half but in the second half, it was Sportive who had a greater part of the game and got a consolation goal in the 59th minute through Stephen Afful.

The visitors put their acts together after the goal and could have cancelled the three goals before the close of the game, but squandered most of the begging chances that came their way, while Sammy Adjei in post for Hearts ensured that shots directed at goal were perfectly dealt with.