Hearts coach Kim Grant says he is ‘proud of his boys’ despite their defeat to Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the semi-final stage of the NC’s Special Competition.

The Phobians were knocked out of the competition via penalties after drawing 1-1 with Kotoko in regulation time.

Defensive stalwart Mohammed Alhassan who returned from the Black Stars camp recently missed his penalty to give Kotoko a 5-4 win.

But Grant has commended his players for the brand of football they sold to their supporters and admirers in the competition.

According to him the players lived up to the club’s ‘never say die’ creed and gave everything on the pitch today.

“We totally dominated and controlled the game. What I would like to say is I’m so proud of the boys because I couldn’t ask for anything better from them. They kept on going. We controlled the game from the second half and I tried to make changes to keep the momentum going to put them (Kotoko) on the back foot”.
“We had one penalty disallowed and we got a second. That never say die attitude, that’s what I was looking for and the intensity. The first 15 minutes we were a little bit maybe nervous but as soon as they scored the goal we got back into it. Overall, I’m very proud of this team”.

Hearts who have also been knocked out of the Tier 2 competition will now have to continue their rebuilding process.

One of the areas Grant will look to strengthen is the striking department as its quite evident that the current crop of strikers are not as clinical as he would want.

Kotoko on the other hand, continue their journey in both competitions. They will play AshantiGold in the semi-final of Tier 2 on Wednesday before the finals against Karela on June 23.