Obuasi, April 23, GNA - Accra Hearts of Oak on Saturday managed a narrow one nil win over Etoile Du Sahel of Tunisia in the MTN/CAF Champions League first leg encounter at the Len Clay Stadium at Obuasi. The unimpressive score line forced most of the disappointed home fans to make a number of after-match comments with some of them blaming the technical team for recruiting sub-standard players for such a high profile competition.
"We have won but we are not happy, we cannot jubilate", a dejected fan said, while another fan emphasized that the results of the match has made us mad", with another saying "as for these Arabs, our juju cannot conquer them".
Mr Kofi Badu of Akokoaso was however confident that the score line was good since the Phobians can produce a draw in Tunisia in two weeks time to qualify to the money zone."
It was inspirational Bernard Don Bortey who conjured his magic in the 36th minute that led to the only goal of the match. Don Bortey collected the ball from the centre line and wove his way through a forest of legs of the Sahel defenders deep into their opponents vital area, before releasing a pass to Moses Andoh but the first touch was pushed by goalkeeper Austine Amgmchukwu for Rueben Senyoh to score.
The goal lighted the stadium forcing the Phobians to press for more goals but that spirit was short-lived as the Tunisians reassumed their dominance with swift movements creating openings for the equalizer which however failed to come their way.
Sahel were the first to caused havoc as Hearts Charles Vardis offered a gifted opportunity to Jedidi Mohammed to score but the Tunisian surprisingly shot wide.
Hearts Andoh wasted a lot of scoring chances and threw away a golden opportunity in the 32nd minute before Senyoh atoned for the mistakes of his attackers.
Etoile Du Sahel wasted a corner kick under the first minute into the second half but it was the Phobians who were given the chance to increase the tally in the 57th minute but Don Bortey uncharacteristic of him failed to put his side ahead as he shot at the foot of onrushing keeper Amgmchukwu with the resultant corner kick being wasted. The Tunisians substituted Opara Emeka with Ogunbiyi Moriola and the change seemed to improve output as they kept pressure on Hearts but again wasted a corner kick in the 66th minute.
With the money zone on sight, Hearts accepted the challenge and forced a corner kick in the 71st minute but it failed to yield any dividend.
Hearts coach Oti Akenten brought on Jojo Bossman for unimpressive Moses Andoh and shortish Joe Tagoe came on for Stanley Afedzi but Don Bortey again denied his side of another goal as his mistimed shot was parried to corner but Skipper Amankwa Mireku's powerful header to the resultant kick went wayward.
The confident looking Etoile Du Sahel team replaced danger man Jedidi Mohammed with Gammoudi Maher and Chikaoui Yassine with Ettraoui Mejdi and that nearly fetched them a goal but Gilson Manuel Silua Alnes shot feebly into the waiting hands of Laud Quartey in posts for Hearts. In the 87th minute when Sahel's Meriah Mehdi threw away a free kick from a dangerous position, it became obvious that Hearts would escape with the lone goal victory.
The South African referee, Darmon Jerome Kelvyn however surprisingly pulled his yellow card twice all going to Hearts Moses Andoh and Stephen Offei for rough play. 23 April 06
