Ethiopians walk off in protest.

... Hearts make it to next round
The African Champions League second round, second leg match between Ghana's Hearts of Oak & St George of Ethiopia was called off, after the players of the Ethiopian side walked off in protest, deep into first half injury time, on Saturday

Hearts was leading 2-0 when the East Africans left the pitch in protest at what they termed "bias officiating" by the referee from Benin

The St. George players threw off their shirts and stormed off after their Ghanaian opponents had been awarded a second penalty in the first half of their match in Obuasi.

"In a matter of 45 minutes we have had 2 penalties and six yellow cards against us. On top of this the referee added nine minutes of extra time" an Ethiopian official complained.

"What will go through your head if this happened to a Ghanaian team?" the official continued.

In the match itself, the Ethiopians held out for the first 31 minutes before Benin referee Crestin Aguidissou awarded the hosts a penalty, converted by Bernard Dong Bortey.

An indirect free kick nine minutes later allowed Dong Bortey to make it 2-0 and halve the deficit, setting off a storm of protest from the visitors which held up play for five minutes.

Soon after the referee handed Hearts another spot kick during nine minutes of time added on at the end of the half because of the stoppages, prompting the walk-off.

St. George had six players booked in the first half.

The Ethiopian club face almost certain expulsion from the Champions League. The competition's rules state that any team that stages a walk-off is deemed to lose their tie.

Hearts would next meet last year's runners-up Etoile Sahel of Tunisia, who had a comfortable 3-0 home win over AS Polisi of Zanzibar in their second round, second leg tie.

The match took place at Obuasi's Len Clay stadium because of renovations to their Accra and Kumasi grounds, for Ghana's hosting of the 2008 African Nations Cup finals

The Accra club were thrashed 4-0 by the Ethiopian club in the first leg of their second round tie in Addis Ababa a fortnight ago.
Asante Kotoko are much better placed for progress into the third round of the competition. They host Ferroviario of Mozambique on Sunday, after forcing a goalless draw away in the first leg.