Lions coach, Bashiru wants to fight to the finish

Accra, Feb 13, GNA - Coach Bashiru Hayford of Kpando Heart of Lions is relishing a fight to the finish as the Coca Cola Top Four competition heads to a photo finish next week.

Lions trail Kumasi King Faisal and Accra Hearts of Oak in the four-team table, but they intend to record a convincing win when they cross swords with Real Tamale United (RTU) in an outstanding game slated for the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium on Sunday.

"RTU's victory over Faisal at the Kumasi Sports stadium has opened the race wide open and we are poised to take advantage of the situation. It would be unwise to rule us out, especially with the outstanding match on hand".

Though, Bashiru reckons that the "Pride of the North" who recorded the biggest tournament upset last Sunday by pushing a 1-0 bitter bill down the throat of defending champions, King Faisal to record their first victory in the competition would not come easy on Sunday, he told the GNA Sports that " we simply won't take anything to chance".

He said, "my boys fared below expectation against Hearts and my prime focus would be to sharpen my attackers and strengthen the entire team for the RTU game".

The debutants recorded their first lost in the competition when they bowed 0-1 to the Phobians in their week-five game at the nation's Wembley, the Ohene Djan Sports stadium in Accra on Sunday.

The Kpando-based club are third on the table with five points from four games and a win on Sunday would bring them up to eight points at par with Faisal and Hearts to brighten their chances in the competition. When both teams met in Kumasi on Wednesday, "the Lions" managed to record their first victory in the tourney with a lone goal win over the tournaments' "whipping boys" who replaced Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the last hour.