Accra, Nov 6, GNA - Fans of defending league champions Accra Hearts of Oak seem to have raised their hands in despair, giving up hope on the possibility of the club retaining the league title for the seventh time after being held to another goalless drawn game by Kumasi based King Faisal at the Cape Coast Stadium.

The fans were disappointed at the inability of their club to win the match in order to keep the chase on archrivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko and came to the reality that the league title has finally eluded them after giving Kotoko a hot chase till now.

A lot of reasons were assigned to the failure of the team to make its seventh title a reality; while some are blaming the players for squandering many scoring opportunities, others heap the blame on the coach for poor selection, with the rest pointing fingers at the management for not doing enough to motivate the playing body to give of their best.

They were of the view that a massive reshuffling should take place in the team from the playing body, through the technical team to the management as a whole to ensure that the club makes amends next year.

However the coach, players and management were of the view that everything was not yet lost and that they would fight to the last match.

Coach Herbert Addo in a post match interview said he was disappointed with the results as it has jolted his chances of winning the league for the club but said his attackers failed to convert the numerous chances they created in the match and that caused them dearly.

He said the though the five point lead is wide and will be difficult to catch up with, and possibly over take Kotoko, anything could happen in association football, therefore the title aspiration is not over yet.

Similar expressions were made by key players like skipper Amankwah Mireku and Bernard Don Bortey after the match.

Mr Randy Abbey, Public Relations Officer of the club in an interview said, the five-point gap will make things difficult for the club in retaining the league title but said, "That does not mean we have given up."

He said they will continue to fight till the last match is played and a winner is declared. Mr Abbey, however, noted that "league title or not we remain Hearts of Oak".

After 26 matches, Accra Hearts of Oak who have dominated the local scene for six years running by winning the league title for six consecutive time seems to be losing grip on the title as archrivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko are currently on top with 63 points.

With only four matches to go, Hearts are behind Kotoko by five points and indications are that it might not be possible for them to catch up with the porcupine warriors.