No Escape For Kotoko

Kumasi Asante Kotoko may not have to look to August 31 when they play perpetual rivals Accra Hearts of Oak as the most dangerous day in their campaign for the first premier league glory after nine years. Sunday, August 24 and in Sekondi Hasaacas, should be a clear and present danger for the Porcupine Warriors to worry about.

Not only are Kotoko heading for Sekondi for a real soccer battle, in fact Hasaacas head coach David Duncan, celebrated for his straight talk when his sides are involved, is nursing a giant-killing ambition to hand Kotoko their second defeat in the league after Heart of Lions. He told the Soccer Express yesterday that Kotoko would not escape defeat on Sunday.

"Oh at the end of the game I expect the result to be positive."

"What does positive mean, a draw or …?."

"A win of course. We shall beat Kotoko", snapped David Duncan shortly after he had completed his training schedule with his players.

Only a week ago he led the Giants of the West, as Hasaacas are also called, out of Kumasi crying foul that his side had been cheated in their two-one loss.

Duncan assured that unlike the first round match in Kumasi where he alleged that too many infractions of the rules of the game went unpunished, Hasaacas are not counting on any untoward acts or on the benevolence of match officials to clinch victory.

"No, violence is not part of our plans for any match. The boys are capable of anything and they believe in themselves in achieving the best."

Duncan says he is not considering the match as any special game either and that the mere fact that he is playing Kotoko should not mean he changes his regimen. It is a usual match and nothing should change.

What Duncan prayed for is that officiating would be up to scratch and that the match would not be handled by any untested referee, describing referee W. L. Quaye who handled their last week encounter in Kumasi as an apology of a referee.

"I don’t know what to make of a referee who insults a coach back on the field of play when he has his red card to resolve the issue", alleging that Kotoko’s coach Abdul Razak went on to the field of play to insult the referee in Hausa while the referee also hit back.