Soccer News of Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Source: Prince Dornu-Leiku / 90 MINUTES

Ahiakpor: Lions focused on Top 4 goal

Kpando Hearts of Lions founder, owner and President, Victor "Abramovich" Ahiakpor remains resolute in his belief that his players will deliver the Top 4 return at the end of the season the club so much craves.

Since joining the elite league a decade ago, Lions have roared loudly and often finished within the Top 4 bracket but last season was a difficult one in which they couldn't even make the top 10.

An obviously disappointed Ahiakpor vowed never to see a repeat and has revived keen interest in the club, even regularly attending training sessions he could be mistaken as part of the technical team.

They have yet to be fully convincing this term, already suffering a home defeat to Ashgold on Match Day 6 but Abramovich insists his side have been impressive and will start winning regularly soon. “We’ll definitely realize the Top 4 ambition because the team is on course, looking at the way the boys are playing, things can only get better,” Ahiakpor told 90 MINUTES in a chat. He continued: This is not a team like Hearts, Kotoko, Chelsea, Medeama who chase all the big stars in Ghana. We invest in young players whom we bring up and nurture for the junior national teams and you can see from the performance of our U-20 side who have won all their 3 matches in their division.

Sunday's 1-0 win over King Faisal in Kpando pushed Lions up the table into 9th spot, just 3 points behind 3rd placed Aduana Stars after 7 match days.

Ahiakpor added: "The boys are not doing badly at all. They are young players that we are putting together and they are improving every time especially against Ashgold, even though we lost, we played 60% of the ball, anybody who watched will testify including even (Ashgold CEO) Kudjoe Fianoo.