Charles Kwablan Akonnor, Head Coach of Asante Kotoko has hit back at Hearts of Oak’s Kim Grant for saying Kotoko did not embark on strategic signings during the preseason.

According to Akunnor, it was better to sign unstrategic players to win crucial game than to have strategic players who could not win.
“I came with the unstrategic player signings players and we won against those who signed strategically,” Akunnor jabbed his opponent.

He said this after his side won 5-4 on penalties in their semi-final eliminator of the Normalisation Committee (NC) Tier One Special Competition at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, following a 1-1 draw in regulations time.

Hearts’ defender Mohammed Alhassan was the only player to miss his penalty in the first batch of takers with skipper Amos Frimpong converting the winning kick.

The home team got a late equalizer through a Christopher Bonney spot kick after Abdul Fatawu Shafiu opened the in the opening minutes for the visitors.

“There were two things in this game, teams that possessed the ball but up to the final third it was over. We needed to do that in a perfect way because, the kind of players they had made us to play that way”.

“We came in this game knowing that Hearts would pass the ball very well and also made sure that we utilize their weakness to our strength which was through the flanks. Unfortunately, there were things we couldn’t do right today, we couldn’t keep the ball and so we struggled over chasing the ball but what was perfect with us was our defencemen. The way we defended was perfect,” Akunnor said.

Kotoko would play Karela FC on Sunday, June 23 at the Accra Sports Stadium in the final of the competition with the winner qualifying for the CAF Champions league for next season.