Premier League: Hearts Beat Hasaacas

Accra Hearts of Oak put the smiles back unto the faces of their supporters when the beat visiting Sekondi Hasaacas 2-0 in an outstanding second week league match played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday.
Shattered by their failure to qualify for the lucrative stage of this year's African Champions League competition, the Phobians did what was just enough to salvage their sunken image.
Hearts stormed into the match and as early as the third minute opened the scoring when Masawudu Mumuni fired in a Wisdom Abbey cross from the right.
But the anticipated cricket score line that hit the fans with the early goal fizzled out when Hasaacas raised their game and managed to match the Phobians, especially in the midfield, where smallish but effective ginger-haired Robert Mensah held his own against skipper Edmund Copson.
Hasacaas started opening gaps in the Hearts defence and in the sixth minute Kingsley Kwarteng had the first scoring chance to equalise but his weak shot went straight into the hands of James Nanor in goal for Hearts.
Hearts did not heed the early warning from the visitors and in the 20th minute, they were nearly shocked but a seemingly good goal was disallowed by class one Referee Gyansah Muller after Nanor had fumbled with a shot and Ephraim Messey to put in the rebound.
After the disallowed goal, Hearts pushed forward and had a good opportunity to increase the count but characteristic of Wisdom Abbey these days, the striker who was put clear by Copson's defence splitting pass fired over the bar with only the Hasaacas goalie Minkah Yakubu to beat.
The second half was not much different from the first as Hasaacas gave a good account of themselves but were let down by their finishing as their strikers found it difficult, breaking down the Hearts defence marshalled around Daniel Coleman and Dan Quaye.
Both teams made some substitutions to strengthen their attack but it was Hearts who reaped the rewards when Awudu Adama tapped in a well timed cross from Kwame Antwi to put the game beyond Hasaacas in the 78th minute.

RTU STRETCH LIBERTY

Real Tamale United were just unimaginative in front of goal, otherwise their beautiful team work should have earned them all three points at the Accra Stadium in their match against wasteful Liberty Professionals in their fourth week Kinapharma Premier League.

The two sides drew goaless but the number of chances created during this free flowing game would scarcely be a true reflection of proceedings.


Liberty kicked off under the instructions of Referee Joe Debrah from Kumasi and made straight for goal with the tireless William Tiero in the lead. That early surge was carefully smoked out with a carefully mapped out midfield play by RTU who also made frantic efforts at finding the net.


In the 9th minute, William Tiero was left off the hook and from a seemingly offside position and alone in the box, he shot wide with the RTU players protesting.


In the 11th minute also RTU's Baba Amando was denied a goal by Liberty goalie Kotei Blankson who fisted his goal bound shot back into play to initiate one attempt for his side. Felix Baffoe found himself confronted by only Michael Abu in goal for RTU but how the striker managed to throw the chance away left him in some pain as he held his head in agony.

The two sides continued to live wastefully until the 18th minute when Liberty's Emmanuel Frimpong hit the cross bar from close range while Ayikado George also sent in a glancing shot that missed target by inches. That was in the 22nd minute, while the rest of the have saw action concentrated in midfield and occasioned by wild kicks at goal. Five minutes into the second half, confusion in the RTU defence saw Liberty failing once more to capitalise on a goalmouth melee, with Felix Baffoe, William Tiero and George Yamoah, all missing their kicks from pretty close range.


Liberty's Albert Nii Quaye picked the yellow card in the 66th minute, a minute after coming on for Nii Aryi Tetteh.


Further substitutions by both sides failed to yield any goals except that it lifted the Liberty game and concentrated the goal hunt in the RTU half but all the chances went wasted. On the 90th minute mark, Albert Nii Quaye blasted home but the goal was disallowed for offside positioning. Assistant Referee Two, K. S. Asante from Sunyani had his flag high up before the ball went into the net.