Soccer News of Monday, 24 June 2002
Source: .
Kotoko 1 Hearts 1
Scorers: DON BORTEY (hearts) Godwin Ablordey (Kotoko)
Bofoakwa 3 Maxbees 1
Mines stars 1 Liberty 1
Okwawu 2 Hasaacas 0
RTU 1 Goldfiels 1
Olympic 1 King Faisal 1
Skipper Godwin Ablordey scored the equaliser from the resultant kick. The skipper moved into the Hearts penalty box when all hope of both players and Kotoko fans was lost and got the ball to substitute Joe Louis who found himself on the turf when he attempted to move.
Referee Bissi whistled for a penalty but Hearts players protested vehemently claiming the player took a dive since there was no contact from a player. It took security personnel sometime to cool down tempers and skipper Ablordey planted the ball on the left side of goalkeeper Sammy Adjei.
Hearts rocked the stadium in the 70th minute with a spectacular goal by Bernard Don Bortey. The speedster who played a manly game took a pass from Kwame Antwi and outpaced Kwaku Duah before beating onrushing goalkeeper Osei Boateng with an intelligent lob.
The league leaders kept Kotoko fans sitting on tenterhooks for a greater part of the game with their crisp inter-positional passes amidst cheers by their teeming supporters. Indeed, the Hearts defence held Kotoko's speedster Micheal Osei in check giving him no room to move in the early stages of the game as the game progressed it became obvious that he could not tick and was eventually substituted.
Kotoko who were playing at home were anxious to win brought on Frank Osei for Joe Sam after the break. The change bolstered Kotoko's attack and in the 48th and 49th minutes, Nana Arhin Duah and Stephen Oduro missed good chances as Frank Osei also shot wide in the 58th minute.
Hearts, however, turned the tide in their favour when in a swift counter-attack, Kwame Antwi laid on the pass to Don Bortey to open the score. Just as everything looked like a win for Hearts, referee Bissi awarded Kotoko the controversial a penalty from which skipper Ablordey equalised.
Okwawu, who have lost their last two matches on the trot- including a 3-1 home thrashing by Dawu Youngsters dominated play from kick off and deservedly took the lead before half time. But that goal only came after stalwart defender George Tutu had thrown away a 38th-minute penalty to the chagrin of their scanty fans.
However, three minutes after that wastage, former player of Liberty Professionals, Daniel Babayara nodded home beautifully to give the homesters the opener.
Barely a minute after the resumption of the second half, Paul Amponsah fired past goalkeeper Seth Tabiriin in post for Hasaacas for the second goal. Unfortunately, the performance of the two sides slumped considerably after the goals and on the few occasions that Okwawu came close to increasing the tally, their efforts were thwarted by goalkeeper Tabiri. Okwawu should have added more goals but goalie Tabiri stood between them and the goal harvest with some excellent saves.