Hearts of Oak will head into 2013 sitting in the relegation zone and far of from the summit after being outclassed by Medeama on Sunday.

A 3-1 loss to the Tarkwa-based side before a frustrated but an expectant home support was hard to take on the final day of Glo Premier League games for 2012.

The Phobians will now have to be involved in the relegation scrap as the season reaches the halfway stage next weekend but coach David Duncan has backed his side to overcome their slump.

A defiant Duncan has claimed the Phobians will bounce back but wants all to pull together after extending their winless run to six consecutive games.

“The game against Medeama was the usual creating opportunities and being unable to take them,” Duncan said in a post match interview.

But the reality was that Hearts were outmatched by Medeama's quality. Hearts will be on the road to Kumasi where they take on King Faisal on Sunday to conclude the first round.

Unlike past seasons, Hearts' quality now, does not seem to pose any fear in opponents.

“This is really a team that needs lots of work. But you see some quality in them.

“But talking about the typical Hearts of Oak materials, you will say they (players) don’t make the cut.

“We all started the league from ground zero so it perhaps down to the quality that was recruited,” the Hearts coach said.

Duncan's grand plan of moving on certain players signed on for Hearts' title ambitions this season, could either prove a master stroke or come back to haunt the Phobians come the end of the season.

“It depends on what task you set-up yourself to. If it’s a project that you are looking out for in the next two, three years then you would say yes.

“But if you are talking about an Accra Hearts of Oak that must produce results week-in-week out, your target of players will be completely different,” the former men's national U-17 coach said.

“We have to pick ourselves from where we have fallen and get back into the fray.”

Though convinced that they will overcome their current slump, Duncan, certainly knows where the problems lie. He might not question his own methods rather he lays into the foundations that existed before his appointment as he calls on every member of the team to commit to the fight.

“But because I didn't start this project, I don’t know what they had in mind. Because I don’t know the kind of target that was set for the previous coach.

“Now that I know that it was the Accra Hearts of Oak team that needs results week-in-week-out then perhaps we need to do what we have to do to get the needed results.

“We certainly need to do a lot of thinking and see where we go from here.

“No-one will pull out at this time. We need to keep fighting hard and see how it goes.”

For a club so revered in Ghana and on the continent, their current position of sitting 14th on the standings with 14 points raises lots of questions.

It will not get any easier but the January break could offer them some respite and a new strategy going forward.