Results of the 17th-week Kinapharma Leagues matches played on Thursday.
Kpando: Lions 4-0 RTUPlaying on Friday: Accra: Okwawu v King Faisal
Accra: Olympics 4-2 B/A United
Berekum: Arsenal 1-0 Hasaacas
K'dua: Stay Cool 2-0 Power FC
Prestea: Mine Stars 0-0 Goldfields
Kumasi: Kotoko 3-2 Liberty
Sunyani: Bofoakwa 0-2 Hearts
------ HOME AWAY------ P W L D F A ...P W L D F A GD..pts
Kotoko 9 7 1 1 19 5 8 5 1 2 11 4 21 40
Hearts 8 5 0 3 15 4 9 6 0 3 12 3 20 39
Arsenals 9 7 1 1 13 3 8 3 4 1 8 7 11 30
King Faisal 8 4 2 2 14 7 8 3 2 3 8 5 10 26
Goldfields 8 6 1 1 15 4 9 1 2 6 8 10 6 25
Liberty 8 2 1 5 9 7 9 4 3 2 12 12 2 25
Olympics 9 5 2 2 12 7 8 1 3 4 7 10 2 24
Mines Stars 9 6 1 2 9 2 8 0 7 1 1 16 -8 21
Lions 9 5 1 3 14 9 8 1 7 0 4 17 -12 21
Hasaacas 8 5 0 3 9 4 9 0 7 2 3 12 -4 20
Power 8 3 3 2 4 5 9 2 5 2 4 8 -5 19 R T U 8 4 3 1 9 4 9 0 5 4 2 16 -9 17
Bofoakwa 9 4 3 2 9 7 8 0 7 1 3 12 -7 15
Okwawu 8 3 3 2 8 8 8 0 5 3 2 7 -5 14
B. A United 8 3 2 3 5 6 9 1 8 0 6 17 -12 13
Stay Cool 9 2 4 3 6 9 8 0 5 3 3 14 -14 12
Both goals were scored in a six minute blitz in the first half through Ablordey Morgan in the 38th minute and Nasiru Ghani in the 44th minute.
The opening goal resulted from a telepathic understanding between Lawrence Adjei and Morgan who collected a long pass from the former in the vital area of Bofoakwa and skilfully displaced goalkeeper Ransford Cudjoe before blasting the ball home.
Soon after the goal Bofoakwa's defender Nana Gyamfi (alias "Disco") who could not find any antidote to the skilful moves of the visitors' attacking machine signalled to his team's technical bench for his substitution.
The defender's request was ignored till Hearts added the second goal in the 44th minute before Kyeremeh, his junior brother, replaced him.
Before Hearts' goals, Bofoakwa had missed two early goal chances through Fatau Husseni within the first 50 seconds of the game. Nana Gyamfi's poor performance became visible as early as the fifth minute when in an effort to save a dangerous situation he nearly scored an own goal.
Hearts assumed command of the game and nearly got the leader in the 12th minute but Don Bortey with only goalkeeper Cudjoe to beat shot wide.
In the 15th minute Ghani also squandered another goal chance and the near misses by the Phobian boys continued until in the 38th minute when Morgan netted.
On resumption, Hearts replaced Morgan, Don Bortey and Ghani with Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, Frank Turkson and Kojo Prince in that order while Nuhey Emmanuel also replaced Yahaya Deedey for Bofoakwa. Sunstitute Turkson and Acquah Harrison of Hearts received a yellow card each from referee Mustapha Mohammed of Kumasi while Emmanuel Nkrumah, also a substitute for Bofoakwa also had similar yellow card during the second half for rough play.
Power had themselves to blame for wasting several chances that came their way to the surprise of their supporters. The most glaring were in the 30th and the 82nd minute when in both cases, the Power attackers had only Lugard Tetteh in the posts for Stay Cool to beat but fumbled.
Sensing danger, the Power technical bench made several changes but that did not change the trend of events until the final whistle of the match.
Kotoko who could not find their feet right from the start, however scored first in the 36th minute through nimble-dribbler Charles Taylor after receiving a pass from Joe Hendricks.
Kotoko should have increased the tally in the 40th minute but new-found Camerounian star Mbola Sandzi headed away a good chance with the goalkeeper Yaw Berko out of position. Liberty equalised in the 51st minute through Eric Berko when he combined beautifully with William Tierro and Mustapha Essuman to beat goalkeeper George Owu.
Kotoko realising the danger ahead, brought in Edmund Owusu-Ansah for Stephen Oduro and Joe Okyere for Yusif Chibsah in the 56th minute but it was Liberty who again got a goal in the 68th minute. Less than a minute after the goal, Owusu-Ansah was brought down in the penalty box of Liberty for Charles Taylor to equalise from the resultant penalty kick.
With three minutes left for play, Mbola sent Kotoko fans wild with a splendid goal to atone for a miss in the 77th minute to give Kotoko a hard victory.
But the early Olympics pressure did not yield much as the B A United defended well, forcing Olympics to fire from the long range. Olympics deservingly took the lead in the 39th minute when an audacious shot by Pomayie from the edge of the box zoomed into the top corner of the net, giving Samuel Quansah in post for B A United no chance.
On resumption, Olympics relaxed and allowed the visitors to dictate the pace of the game, coming close in the 52nd minute but Kwasi Boateng, in a good position to score fell in the box for referee Alhassan Brobbey from Asante Mampong to wave play on.
The referee's decision not to whistle for a penalty incensed the BA United players who protested vehemently, resulting in Prince Adu-Poku being cautioned for taking his protest too far.
The visitors were clearly the dominant team and they deservedly equalized in the 58th minute when substitute Nana Adarkwa finished off in an emphatic fashion with a blast in the box after being set up by Kwasi Boateng.
B A United never rested on their oars after the equalizer as they poured forward in droves for the searching for the leader, which they nearly had in the 64th minute when Alex Djanie's longrange shot flashed just past the post.
Olympics muffled any attempt at causing an upset in the 69th minute when Iddrissu Sumaila fired in a thunderbolt from a free kick from about 30 meters to put them back into the lead again. Amui Quaye then made victory almost certain in the 74th minute when he robbed Stephen Quansah of the ball deep inside the BA penalty box to score Olympics' third goal.
The visitors did not give up the fight as they clawed back in the 84th minute to reduce the tally through a spot kick converted by Nana Frimpong, after Masawudu Yahaya was brought down in the box. With the game drawing to a close, Olympics' Michael Ocansey scored his second goal in as many matches when he tapped in from close range after a goal month melee.
After the match, an elated E K Afranie was full of praise for his team. He attributed the two goals his team conceded to the absence of his regular defenders who could not play due to various degrees of injuries they had suffered in their last match.
Coach Afranie said the fact that the strikers complemented the efforts of the make shift defense to score four goals is a sign that the team is gradually getting into shape. .
Results of the 17th-week Kinapharma Leagues matches played on Thursday.
Kpando: Lions 4-0 RTUPlaying on Friday: Accra: Okwawu v King Faisal
Accra: Olympics 4-2 B/A United
Berekum: Arsenal 1-0 Hasaacas
K'dua: Stay Cool 2-0 Power FC
Prestea: Mine Stars 0-0 Goldfields
Kumasi: Kotoko 3-2 Liberty
Sunyani: Bofoakwa 0-2 Hearts
------ HOME AWAY------ P W L D F A ...P W L D F A GD..pts
Kotoko 9 7 1 1 19 5 8 5 1 2 11 4 21 40
Hearts 8 5 0 3 15 4 9 6 0 3 12 3 20 39
Arsenals 9 7 1 1 13 3 8 3 4 1 8 7 11 30
King Faisal 8 4 2 2 14 7 8 3 2 3 8 5 10 26
Goldfields 8 6 1 1 15 4 9 1 2 6 8 10 6 25
Liberty 8 2 1 5 9 7 9 4 3 2 12 12 2 25
Olympics 9 5 2 2 12 7 8 1 3 4 7 10 2 24
Mines Stars 9 6 1 2 9 2 8 0 7 1 1 16 -8 21
Lions 9 5 1 3 14 9 8 1 7 0 4 17 -12 21
Hasaacas 8 5 0 3 9 4 9 0 7 2 3 12 -4 20
Power 8 3 3 2 4 5 9 2 5 2 4 8 -5 19 R T U 8 4 3 1 9 4 9 0 5 4 2 16 -9 17
Bofoakwa 9 4 3 2 9 7 8 0 7 1 3 12 -7 15
Okwawu 8 3 3 2 8 8 8 0 5 3 2 7 -5 14
B. A United 8 3 2 3 5 6 9 1 8 0 6 17 -12 13
Stay Cool 9 2 4 3 6 9 8 0 5 3 3 14 -14 12
Both goals were scored in a six minute blitz in the first half through Ablordey Morgan in the 38th minute and Nasiru Ghani in the 44th minute.
The opening goal resulted from a telepathic understanding between Lawrence Adjei and Morgan who collected a long pass from the former in the vital area of Bofoakwa and skilfully displaced goalkeeper Ransford Cudjoe before blasting the ball home.
Soon after the goal Bofoakwa's defender Nana Gyamfi (alias "Disco") who could not find any antidote to the skilful moves of the visitors' attacking machine signalled to his team's technical bench for his substitution.
The defender's request was ignored till Hearts added the second goal in the 44th minute before Kyeremeh, his junior brother, replaced him.
Before Hearts' goals, Bofoakwa had missed two early goal chances through Fatau Husseni within the first 50 seconds of the game. Nana Gyamfi's poor performance became visible as early as the fifth minute when in an effort to save a dangerous situation he nearly scored an own goal.
Hearts assumed command of the game and nearly got the leader in the 12th minute but Don Bortey with only goalkeeper Cudjoe to beat shot wide.
In the 15th minute Ghani also squandered another goal chance and the near misses by the Phobian boys continued until in the 38th minute when Morgan netted.
On resumption, Hearts replaced Morgan, Don Bortey and Ghani with Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, Frank Turkson and Kojo Prince in that order while Nuhey Emmanuel also replaced Yahaya Deedey for Bofoakwa. Sunstitute Turkson and Acquah Harrison of Hearts received a yellow card each from referee Mustapha Mohammed of Kumasi while Emmanuel Nkrumah, also a substitute for Bofoakwa also had similar yellow card during the second half for rough play.
Power had themselves to blame for wasting several chances that came their way to the surprise of their supporters. The most glaring were in the 30th and the 82nd minute when in both cases, the Power attackers had only Lugard Tetteh in the posts for Stay Cool to beat but fumbled.
Sensing danger, the Power technical bench made several changes but that did not change the trend of events until the final whistle of the match.
Kotoko who could not find their feet right from the start, however scored first in the 36th minute through nimble-dribbler Charles Taylor after receiving a pass from Joe Hendricks.
Kotoko should have increased the tally in the 40th minute but new-found Camerounian star Mbola Sandzi headed away a good chance with the goalkeeper Yaw Berko out of position. Liberty equalised in the 51st minute through Eric Berko when he combined beautifully with William Tierro and Mustapha Essuman to beat goalkeeper George Owu.
Kotoko realising the danger ahead, brought in Edmund Owusu-Ansah for Stephen Oduro and Joe Okyere for Yusif Chibsah in the 56th minute but it was Liberty who again got a goal in the 68th minute. Less than a minute after the goal, Owusu-Ansah was brought down in the penalty box of Liberty for Charles Taylor to equalise from the resultant penalty kick.
With three minutes left for play, Mbola sent Kotoko fans wild with a splendid goal to atone for a miss in the 77th minute to give Kotoko a hard victory.
But the early Olympics pressure did not yield much as the B A United defended well, forcing Olympics to fire from the long range. Olympics deservingly took the lead in the 39th minute when an audacious shot by Pomayie from the edge of the box zoomed into the top corner of the net, giving Samuel Quansah in post for B A United no chance.
On resumption, Olympics relaxed and allowed the visitors to dictate the pace of the game, coming close in the 52nd minute but Kwasi Boateng, in a good position to score fell in the box for referee Alhassan Brobbey from Asante Mampong to wave play on.
The referee's decision not to whistle for a penalty incensed the BA United players who protested vehemently, resulting in Prince Adu-Poku being cautioned for taking his protest too far.
The visitors were clearly the dominant team and they deservedly equalized in the 58th minute when substitute Nana Adarkwa finished off in an emphatic fashion with a blast in the box after being set up by Kwasi Boateng.
B A United never rested on their oars after the equalizer as they poured forward in droves for the searching for the leader, which they nearly had in the 64th minute when Alex Djanie's longrange shot flashed just past the post.
Olympics muffled any attempt at causing an upset in the 69th minute when Iddrissu Sumaila fired in a thunderbolt from a free kick from about 30 meters to put them back into the lead again. Amui Quaye then made victory almost certain in the 74th minute when he robbed Stephen Quansah of the ball deep inside the BA penalty box to score Olympics' third goal.
The visitors did not give up the fight as they clawed back in the 84th minute to reduce the tally through a spot kick converted by Nana Frimpong, after Masawudu Yahaya was brought down in the box. With the game drawing to a close, Olympics' Michael Ocansey scored his second goal in as many matches when he tapped in from close range after a goal month melee.
After the match, an elated E K Afranie was full of praise for his team. He attributed the two goals his team conceded to the absence of his regular defenders who could not play due to various degrees of injuries they had suffered in their last match.
Coach Afranie said the fact that the strikers complemented the efforts of the make shift defense to score four goals is a sign that the team is gradually getting into shape. .
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