AshantiGold walloped Hearts of Lions 5-1 in the 18th edition of the GT Premiership at the Len Clay Sports Stadium on Sunday 31st July 2005. A minute silence was observed for the late Emmanuel Ofei-Ansah before the commencemence of the match.

AshGold came into the game strongly following their recent loss against Kotoko and made several incursions to find the opener but the defenders of Lions stood tall to most of the situations. Kofi Deblah found the opener in the 10th minute after Emmanuel Osei Kuffour had cleverly laid a perfect pass for Deblah to blast a powerful shot, beating goalkeeper Mozart Adjetey in post of Lions.

AshGold mounted pressure on the visitors and bombarded the goal area of Hearts of Lions but the attackers of AshGold squandered several opportunities to the relief of the visitors.

In the 13th minute Kofi Deblah?s shot was connected home by Opoku Agyemang in a goalmouth melee registering the second goal in favour of the soccer miners setting the Stadium alive.

Lions accepted the challenge and put their passes together that made things rather difficult for AshGold. Lion?s central defender Jerry Akaminko broke lose from their goal area and sneaked through the entire defenders of AshGold before delivering a powerful grounder that zoomed straight into the net with the defenders of AshGold caught ball watching.

Heart of Lions lifted their game, seized the midfield and dictated the pace but found the defenders of AshGold comprising Dan Asamoah, Alfred Arthur, Kwaku Wiafe and Joe Hendricks too hot to handle.

?General? Emmanuel Osei Kuffour in the 33rd minute received a perfect pass from Nasir Lamine and blasted a powerful shot that beat Mozart Adjetey for the 3rd goal. A minute later Kofi Deblah also came close to scoring when he beat his marker and delivered a bullet but missed the post by inches.

Jerry Akaminko was yellow carded in the 37th minute for bringing down Ofosu Amoah who actually proved so stubborn to the defenders of Lions.

Heart of Lions however made their first substitution in the early part of the second half when they brought on Ibrahim Sulemana for Bob Zeo with Offei Adu also taking over from Masiri Joseph.

Kuffour again set the Stadium alive in the 55th minute when Opoku Agyemang headwork was tapped in by Kuffour for the forth goal. Mubarak Wakasu replaced limping Adamu Mohammed while Adu Gyamfi was also brought on for Opoku Agyemang in the 64th and 67th minutes respectively.

Lion?s resorted to dangerous plays with Sulemana Ibrahim attracting the second yellow card after he had savagely brought down Nasir Lamine in the 67th minute. ?General? Osei Kuffour registered a ?hat-trick? when he received a perfect pass from midfield supremo Nasir Lamine and dummied the goalkeeper before slotting the ball in the empty net attracting cheers from the stands.

Kuffour was substituted in the 82nd minute for Matthew Attiogbe. Attiogbe however squandered a glorious opportunity in the later part of the game with only the goalie to beat he hesitated for the ball to be disposed of him to the disappointment of the fans.

The head coach of AshGold Hans Van Der Pluym after the match accepted the fact that he had been missing the services of natural midfielders like Nasir Lamine who got injured after in the league match against Hearts of Oak at the Accra Sports Stadium. He said, ?We scored our goals quickly enough to avoid troubles?. He showered praises unto the entire players and urged them to keep the spirit high for the other matches ahead.

AshGold: George Owu, Dan Asamoah, Alfred Arthur, Kwaku Wiafe, Joe Hendricks, Adamu Mohammed/Wakasu Mubarak, Ofosu Amoah, Nasir Lamine, Kofi Deblah, Osei Kuffour/Matthew Attiogbe, Opoku Agyemang/Adu Gyamfi

OBUASI MP MAKES PRESENTATION TO OSEI KUFFOUR

The Member of Parliament for Obuasi Constituency Hon Edward Ennin presented a football to ?General? Emmanuel Osei Kuffour for scoring a ?hat-trick? in a league match between AshGold and Heart of Lions at the Len Clay Sports Stadium on Sunday 31st July 2005. The match ended 5-1 in favour of the soccer miners. Hon Ennin commended the players of AshGold for their high-spirited performance and urged them to redouble their efforts to uplift the image of Obuasi and for that matter Adansi.

Osei Kuffour in return thanked the MP and on behalf of the players assured him to give up their best to the expectation of the Member of Parliament and the residents of Obuasi and its surroundings.