Hearts beat Real Sportive 2-1

Accra Hearts of Oak on Thursday secured their much-sought vengeance over Real Sportive at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra when they chalked a 2-1 victory in their tenth week GT Premier League match.

Sportive, having broken the 48-match unbeaten record of the Phobians in the first round of the league, it was Hearts who right from the onset threw everything into the game in a bid to appease their fans with a victory as well as maintain their lead on the zone 'B' of the league. The victory for the Phobians was however a hard fought one as they had to come from a goal down in the first half to score two goals in the second half to end the day.

Though both sides adopted a crunchy approach to the game, Accra based referee Felix Ameh worsened matters as he failed to stamp his authority on the game with series of inconsistent decisions for the two teams. After disallowing a perfect goal scored by Hearts in the tenth minute as a result of an infringement, referee Ameh followed up to endorse a seemingly offside goal by Sportive in the 28th minute.

The goal was scored by Hearts' reject, William Gbedzeke who capitalised on an offside trap to head home a cross from another reject Eric Djangha for side's opener.
Spurred on by the goal, Hearts made several attempts at finding the equaliser but they failed to find the back of the net with fantastic saves from keeper Laud Quartey who is among the trio of players rejected by the Confederations Cup campaigners at the beginning of the 2004 season.

Quartey crowned his efforts in the first half by saving a controversial penalty awarded to Hearts from the foot of Bernard Don Bortey in the 39th minute.
It was another decision which players of Sportive vehemently protested against but that was not enough to change the decision of the inconsistent referee.
Sportive jealously guarded their one goal lead till the end of the first half.
Hearts, however, did not relent in their efforts to find the equaliser as they continued to harass their opponents on resumption and were awarded with another penalty in the 71st minute that also drew another dose of protests from the home team.
For coach Jones Amisah of Sportive, it was one of the worse officiating he had witnessed in recent times and concluded with the remark, "Ghana football? I have nothing to say" as he walked away in pain.
Dan Quaye however made no mistake in converting the penalty for his side to level up the scores in the 72nd minute.
Hearts pressurised their opponents in search for the winner and this materialised in the 82nd minute from Don Bortey who atoned for his "sins" by curling a perfect free kick to win the day for his side after failing to score a penalty in the first half.
Hearts coach, Jones Attuquayefio in a post match interview said he was impressed with the victory even though it was a difficult game for him.
Coach Attuquayefio said that, "Sportive wanted to become what people describe as a bogey side of Hearts and I'm happy that their reign has come to an end".