Abrankese, (Ash), June 11, GNA - Visiting Kpando Heart of Lions held new entrants Kessben F/C to a 1-1 pulsating drawn game in their Onetouch mid-week Premier League match at the Anane Boateng Stadium at Abrankese on the Lake Bosumtwi road.
The visitors took the lead in the 25th minute through Osei Banahene who connected home in a goal mouth melee from a corner kick taken by Abraham Annang.
It was Kessben who kicked off after referee Patrick Aziza of Tema had whistled the two teams into action but Loins quickly took over and in the fourth minute they hit the net through Banahene but his effort was ruled off side.
Lions, with fluent attacking machinery and more purposeful from this stage continued to probe for a goal and during one of their forays the ball hit the hands of Richard Opoku Afriyie in the box in the 10th minute but the referee ignored the appeal for penalty. Undaunted by the action of the referee, the visitors continued to dominate the game with fast inter-positional passes forcing the home team to retreat to defend and it came as no surprise when they had the opener in the 25th minute through Banahene.
After the goal, Kessben came into the picture and moved into attack but the defence of Lions refused to bulge. Kessben were awarded a penalty in the 42nd minute when Bismark Idan was brought down in the box by a Lions defender. Michael Ofosu Appiah who opted for the kick made no mistake to put the ball to the blind side of goalkeeper Mozart Adjetey for the much needed equalizer. Lions brought on Hans Kwofie for injured Dominic Adiyiah in the 43rd minute.
Kessben nearly took the lead in the 53rd minute but substitute Edmund Owusu Peprah shot wide with only goalkeeper Adjetey to beat. Both teams exhausted their substitution list but none of them was able to carry the day.
At the end of the match it took the security personnel a hectic time to get the officials out of the field from the angry fans of Kessben who felt that the referee had robbed their team from winning the match.