Sportive gate crush into finals of Homowo cup

Accra, Aug 28, GNA - Tema based Real Sportive gate crushed into the finals of the LG Homowo Cup when they beat favourites, Accra Hearts of Oaks 3-2 on penalties after their encounter had ended one all in regulation time at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday. Sportive have thus set a date with another surprise team, Accra Great Olympics who on Friday beat Liberty Professionals by a lone goal to advance for Sunday's finals.

The encounter, which started on a very fast note, saw Hearts taking the initiative right from the blast of the whistle and pushed forward into their opponents half for the lead.

They were duly rewarded in the second minute when Bernard Don Bortey fired them into the lead in the second minute when he side footed a Lawrence Adjei's inch perfect cross over onrushing Laud Quartey in Sportive's post for the opening goal.

Sportive who were not prepared to give away anything to their more illustrious opponents replied immediately by levelling up in the fourth minute through a penalty converted by goalkeeper Laud Quartey after Hearts goalkeeper Saani Mohammed had brought down Ralph Onya in the penalty box.

Surprisingly it was Sportive who quickly settled into their rhythm after their equaliser and played some delightful football, especially in the middle but were found wanting upfront.

Against the run of play, Don Bortey had a chance to put Hearts back into the lead in the 16th minute when Edmund Copson put him through but the striker fired his effort wide off the mark.

On the stroke of half time Hearts again nearly took the lead when well-placed Lawrence Adjei fired a low drive past Quartey in post for Sportive but before he could celebrate Eric Djamgba, a former Hearts player came from no where to clear the ball off the line.

This scare however did not shake the resolve of determined Sportive who came into the second half a much more stronger team and played with a lot of confidence giving the Hearts defence some anxious moments from time to time.

In the 61st minute, Sportive's second half dominance nearly paid off but for a timely intervention by Saani Mohammed who made a double save in quick succession from a Ralph Onya shot.

Hearts Skipper Amankwa Mireku was on hand again in the 69th minute to prevent a goal bound shot from Yunis Kamil on the goal line. Even though Hearts staged a last minute rally to win the encounter, Sportive remained unyielding at the back to push the game to penalties.

During the penalty shoot-out, Hearts Amankwa Mireku and Emmanual Osei Kuffour scored whilst Adjah Tetteh, Edmund Copson and Francis Bossman threw away their efforts.

For Sportive, Samuel Dickson, Hamza Abdulai and Samuel Ocran converted their kicks whilst Laud Quartey and Turrik Mohammed wasted their kicks to record a famous victory over Hearts.