Results of the Kinapharma Premier League matches
Accra: Liberty 0-0 Olympics
Koforidua: Hearts 1-0 Okwahu
Sekondi: Hasaacas 2-1 Stay Cool
Kumasi: Power 1-0 Arsenals
Bolga: RTU 2-1 B.A. United
Obuasi: G'fields 0-0 Faisal
Sunyani: Bofoakwa 1-1 Minestars
Hearts In narrow Win
Accra Hearts of Oaks had it tough before settling for a 1-0 victory over visiting Okwawu United in their Kinapharma Premier League match played at Koforidua.The only goal of the match was scored in the 75th minute when a free kick taken by Hearts from the left-flank went Dan Quaye who lifted the ball over the head of the Okwawu defenders for centre-forward, Ablade Morgan to head into the net.
Hearts who are facing a three home match suspension because of the misconduct of their supporters in their match against Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Accra Sports Stadium had to play their home match at Koforidua.
It was Okwawu, who nearly took the lead in the first half of the game when Hearts goalkeeper Eben Dida got out of the post to grab a ball floated into their goal area but missed it.
Ernest Boateng, who was chasing the ball got his head to it but the ball missed the upright and floated over the line for a goal kick to the relief of the Hearts supports who had filled the stadium to capacity.
For the next nine minutes after the near miss, the Okwawu boys kept the ball in the half of Hearts but never made any threatening attempt at goal.
After the first ten minutes, the Hearts players settled down, took control of the game, pushed back the Okwawu players into their goal area and came close to scoring in the 10th, 15th and 29th minutes, but all the three chances were wasted by Lawrence Adjei and Morgan. Okwawu had the best chance to score in the 59th minute when their midfield general, Elvis Opoku who had been the man behind all their dangerous moves from the midfield got a pass in the half of Hearts, beat his marker and placed the ball on the path of Osei Bonsu in the penalty box of Hearts.
With only goalkeeper Dida to beat, Bonsu fumbled and fell down for Dida to easily pick the ball.
Hearts recovered from the near shock and turned the heat on the Okwawu boys and in the 68th minute, their midfield men lobbed the ball into the Okwawu goal area.
Goalkeeper Dauda Fatau who came out of the post to grab the ball was beaten and the ball got to Adjei who was right in front of the Okwawu post, but before he could head the ball into the empty net, Fatau recovered and headed the ball away from Adjei to save the situation. Adjei who got wounded in the process could not continue the game and had to be replaced.
Don Bortey who was the live-wire of the Hearts from the start of the game got tired and started making faulty passes to the annoyance of the technical bench and he was replaced by Kenneth Sarpong.
The inclusion of Sarpong changed the fortunes of Hearts and enabled them to score the only goal of the match.
Hasaacas collect all points from beat Stay Cool
Sekondi September 21, GNA-Sekondi Hasaacas beat visiting Stay Cool F/C 2-1 in their Kinapharma premier league match at the Sekondi Gyandu Park on Sunday.In the 31st minute the defence of Stay Cool bowed to pressure from Hasaacas, making it possible for John Ainoo, wearing the number two jersey to blast home the first goal for his side.
After the goal, Stay Cool did not relent in their efforts to find the equaliser as they played with greater determination but they could not outwit the mid -field and defence of Hasaacas. In the 40th minute, Hasaacas re-opened the attack and put more pressure on Stay Cool but good goalkeeping by Lucas Tetteh saved Stay Cool from heavy defeat.
John Ainoo scored the second goal for Hasaacas in the 48th minute when he utilised a good pass in the penalty area of Stay Cool. After the second goal, Stay Cool pressed for equaliser but missed several scoring chances until in the 69th minute when Wawada Abdulai wearing the number two jersey reduced the score to 2-1 for his team.
Oly Hold Liberty
Accra Great Olympics held Dansoman-based Liberty Professionals to a goalless drawn game in their tie played at the nation's Wembley, Accra Sports Stadium.Olympics playing under the instructions of Coach Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie played sluggishly and failed to pose any serious threat to goalkeeper Kotei Blankson in post for the Dansoman lads though they had the best of the exchanges.
Both teams sold out a dull game in the first half with occasional threats from each other with the Wonder boys last chance falling to skipper Amiu Quaye on the half mark but his shot missed the target narrowly.
The second half resumed on a similar note with both teams struggling to strike the lead. Both teams injected life into their play in a bid to snatch the maximum point.
Notwithstanding their dominance in the last quarter of the game, Olympic messed up up-front with Paa Joe Kumah and Andy Pomeyie being the worst culprits.
The Asamoah Gyan led liberty attack was not different from their opponents as the youngster and his colleague threw away many golden opportunities to nail the visitors.
Gyan's classic set up to advancing William Tiero was wasted with only the goal keeper to beat to the ecstasy of the partisan Olympics supporters.
Bofoakwa Tano 1 Prestea Mines Stars 1
Bofoakwa Tano and visiting Prestea Mines Stars shared honours when they drew one-one in their match played at the Sunyani Coronation Park on Sunday.Both goals were scored in the second half, after a hectic first half during which Bofoakwa squandered numerous begging chances. The home team's near misses started with Issah Abu in the very first minute of the match which was under the instructions of Referee Patrick K. Agego-Azigah of Tema who took very questionable decisions, especially in the second half. With only goalkeeper Antwi Patrick of Mines Stars to beat, Abu woefully shot the ball wide. Bofoakwa wasted another chance in the fourth minute when Richard Awuah fumbled and the visitor's keeper had no difficulty in saving the situation.
Mines boys warmed themselves into the game by the eighth minute but Isaac Owusu and Stephen Ofei were shown the yellow cards in the 10th and 18th minutes respectively for rough play.
Awuah, playmaker in most of Bofoakwa's matches had a bad day as he made heavy weather of another golden chance in the 19th minute and the Miners' keeper shone again.
Bofoakwa forced two corner kicks but wasted them all. In the 26th minute Emmanuel Nkrumah of Bofoakwa was at the right position to score but goalkeeper Antwi of the visiting team who had a good day brilliantly saved an equally perfect shot to draw great applause from the spectators.
Finding the going too tough, Bofoakwa made a change in the 28th minute by bringing in Richard Yaw Kyeremeh for Owusu Sarpong. The game was held up for five minutes when supporters of Bofoakwa started throwing bags of iced water at the second assistant referee, Addo Djan of Nsawam.
When play resumed, Mines Stars with Daniel Antwi, Biara George, William Opuje, Prince Yeboah, Abeiku Bani Jonathan and Abdul Samed alias "Okucha" combined effectively and forced three corner-kicks in succession but unfortunately, they wasted them all.
On resumption, both teams redoubled their efforts and made substitutions, which favoured the visitors as Okucha capitalized on a defensive blunder in the 50th minute to score the opener. In the 55th minute the referee showed Osei Kuffour of Bofoakwa the yellow card for simulation in the penalty box.
Kuffour, however, atoned for his mistake as he got the equalizer in the 65th minute as a result of a defensive blunder by the Miners. During added time, goalkeeper Antwi of Mines Stars was shown the yellow card for time wasting.
In Kumasi, Koforidua-based Power F/C, honouring their 22nd Kinapharma Premier match in Kumasi following their home ban beat Berekum Arsenal 1-0 to grab the three points at stake.
The lone goal of the match was scored by Douglas Nkrumah in the 87th minute when everything looked like a drawn game in a match which the visitors dominated right from the blast of the whistle.
A goal kick taken by goalkeeper Sullemana Abubakari to his defender who could not control it fell to Nkrumah who took advantage of it and dribbled the goalkeeper before planting the ball into an empty net.
Arsenal players will be cursing their stars because they had the greater part of the exchanges and had every chance to carry the day but poor marksmanship made the goals to eluded them.
They had a penalty in the 10th minute when Osei Kofi was brought down in the box but the kick taken by Emmanuel Ampiah was saved by goalkeeper Isaac Zoogah of Power F/C.
Power also had a chance in the 25th minute but wasted it. Both teams played it hard resulting in several hold-ups and Kumasi based Refree F. Osei-Nsiah had to stamp his authority over the game by flashing them yellow cards with the worse offenders being Power who had three yellow cards to Ben Addo-Yeboah, Mutalla Amadu and Edward Sosu.
King Faisal and Obuasi Goldfields Draw
Alhaji Grusah's King Faisal and Obuasi Goldfields played a pulsating goalless draw game in their match played at the Len Clay stadium.Immediately referee Joseph Wellington of Accra blew his whistle to end proceedings, many of the Goldfields fans thanked their stars fro not losing the match.
An impressive second half performance by the visitors together with the countless number of goal scoring chances they created could have caused Goldfields a heavy defeat but Kwadwo Poku and Eric Gawu surprisingly appeared hypnotised especially in the 5th 70th and 81st minutes when they had easy opportunities to score.
Determined to avenge the first round 5-2 humiliation, the Miners started the game in a purposeful manner but wasted three corner kicks in the 7th and 22nd and the 40th minutes.
The exciting second half completely belonged to King Faisal who could have scored at least two goals if they had not messed up with many begging chances that fell to them.
Kinapharma Premier League Standings
Standings of the 16-club Kinapharma Premier League after the 22nd-week matches played on Sunday.---- HOME AWAYEDS: The table without Kotoko-Lions match. It has been declared outstanding because of the APR-Kotoko CAF Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinal second leg match played in Kigali on Saturday. 21 Sept.2003.CLUBS P W L D F A ... P W L D F A GD..pts
Kotoko 10 8 0 2 20 5 11 6 1 4 14 6 23 48
Hearts 11 7 0 4 18 5 11 6 0 5 13 4 22 48
King Faisal 11 7 2 2 19 7 11 4 3 4 12 7 17 39
Arsenals 11 8 2 1 14 4 11 3 7 1 8 12 6 35
Goldfields 11 8 1 2 19 4 11 1 3 7 9 12 9 33
Liberty 11 4 1 6 13 7 11 4 5 2 12 16 2 32
Olympics 11 5 2 4 13 8 11 1 4 6 7 11 1 28
Hasaacas 11 7 0 4 14 6 11 0 8 3 3 14 -3 28
Mines Stars 11 7 1 3 11 3 11 0 9 2 2 19 -9 26
Lions 11 6 1 4 16 9 10 1 9 0 5 20 -8 25
R T U 11 6 3 2 12 5 11 0 6 5 3 18 -8 25
Power 12 4 4 4 6 8 10 2 6 2 5 10 -7 24
B. A United 11 6 2 3 9 7 11 1 10 0 7 21 -12 22
Bofoakwa 11 5 3 3 11 8 11 0 8 3 3 13 -7 21
Okwawu 11 4 4 3 12 13 11 0 7 4 3 11 -9 19
Stay Cool 10 3 4 3 6 9 12 1 8 3 6 19 -16 18
