Premier League Results/Reports

 Accra:   Olympics    1-2  Hearts 
 Prestea: Minestars   0-2  Kotoko
 Kumasi:  Faisal      4-1  RTU
 K'dua:   Stay Cool   0-0  Liberty 
 Kpando:  Lions       1-0  Arsenals
 Obuasi:  Goldfields  2-0  Power
 Mpreaso: Okwahu      2-0  Bofoakwa
 Sunyani: B/A United  1-0  Hasaacas 

Faisal Trounce RTU

In Kumasi, King Faisal maintained their superiority over Real Tamale United (RTU) when they thrashed them 4-1 in their match played in the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

Faisal beat RTU 1-0 in the first round played at Bolgatanga. In today's encounter, it was the visitors who scored first in the 18th minute through Weah Alhassan after Faisal failed to translate the numerous scoring chances that fell to them.

RTU looking less purposeful after this goal, allowed Faisal to equalise two minutes later through Hamza Mohammed in a goalmouth melee. Determined to carry the day, the homesters scored the second goal in the 37th minute through Godwin Ablordey with a low grounder which beat goalkeeper Najewu Issah.

RTU sensing danger, brought in Razak Baker for Nasiru Anass in the 45th minute to strengthen their defence and it nearly paid off for them in the 50th minute but Philip Amoako fumbled with a beautiful chance. Wemah Nurudeen of RTU was shown the red card in the 57th minute by referee E. Ferguson of Accra for dangerous play on Eric Gawu. Faisal still on top made it 3-1 through Gawu who connected home a beautiful cross from Abubakari Yahuza in the 61st minute.

Both teams exhausted their substitutions and playing with 10 men, it became difficult for the visitors to move forward and this enabled Faisal to scored their fourth goal in the 90th minute, again through Gawu.

Hearts Survive Scare

Defending League Champions Accra Hearts of Oak on Sunday survived the scare of their lives and won 2-1 when they played as guests of Great Olympics in a local derby at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Hearts of Oak's Bernard Don Bortey opened the scores in the 3rd minute when his shot from the edge of the box went through a cluster of legs to beat Olympics' keeper John Adjetey.

The goal, which took the wonder boys by surprise, did not, however, affect their performance as they put their acts together and took control of the midfield and carried the game to their opponents.

Their dominance fetched them the equaliser in the 13th minute when Hearts' Eric Nyarko lost possession of the ball in midfield and Andy Pomayie thundered a spectacular volley from the edge of the "18" beating Eben Dida Armah in post for Hearts hands down.

The two goals set the tone for a battle royal, as both sides made efforts to get on top. Pomayie, Joe Tagoe and Amui Quaye played well to endorse Olympics' dominance but the Ghanaian Blues failed to go ahead as they wasted glorious chances.

When Hearts went froward, Lawrence Adjei's shot as well as, a rebound from Ablade Morgan in the 31st were all saved by keeper Adjetey. Pomayie managed to move deep into Hearts defensive third but he failed to beat goalkeeper Armah with his effort.

The impact of Olympics dominance reduced after Coach E.K. Afranie introduced David Ofei, John Cudjoe and Micheal Ocansey for Francis Mantey, Joe Tagoe and Paa Joe Kumah. Whilst Herbert Addo, Hearts' boss took out jittery Eric Nyarko for Emmanuel Osei Kuffour with Ammankwah Mireku and Keneth Sarpong taking over from Emmanuel Osei and Lawrence Adjei.

The substitutions paid off for Hearts as they found their rhythm in the last quarter of the game and managed to pin Olympics to their own half, with Osei Kuffour's goal bound header being saved in the 83rd minute.

The match winner came two minutes later when Bortey's corner kick resulted in melee and Morgan, who is fast establishing himself as the leading striker for Hearts, directed the ball with his head into the net to increase his personal goal tally to five.

Few minutes after the goal, Bortey was carried motionless onto the pitch by some fans while play was in progress and he was attended to by the medical personnel before being take off the pitch for further treatment.

When play resumed, Hearts played the last five minutes with ten men as they had exhausted their substitution.

Olympics capitalised on their numerical advantage and subjected Hearts to intense pressure which nearly resulted in goal but their front men failed to find the back of the net till the final whistle by Accra based FIFA referee Justus Agbeko.

Coach Afranie in a post match interview expressed disappointment on the score line saying, his boys were tactically better than Hearts and could have won the game.

BA Win

In Sunyani, B.A. United beat visiting Sekondi Hassacas 1-0 in their match played at the Sunyani Coronation park. Striker Osman Sakora scored the lone goal in the 44th minute after disposing of three opponents in a row.

Five yellow cards were registered in the foul-strewn game, especially in the second half, with B.A United having three of its players booked and Hasaacas two.

Central referee Daniel Offei of Tema expelled coach Duncan of Hasaacas from the arena in the 30th minute of the game in another ugly scene in the match. Referee Offei later told newsmen that he sacked the coach from his team's reserve bench "because he rained insults on me from the touchline".

Coach Duncan who did not take the referee's marching-off order kindly refused to leave and this held up the game for five minutes until some officials of Hassacas went down from the VIP stand to advise the coach to comply with the referee's order. When play resumed the Brong boys who needed a victory badly attacked in bursts and deservingly got the winning goal through Sakora who decided on a lap of honour soon after the referee's whistle went for the end of the first half to collect tips from supporters of the club.

The "tip collection" made Sakora to forget to join his colleagues to receive the usual pep talk from their coach for the second half. Both sides made substitutions with the scale slightly in favour of Hassaacas but good defensive work by United with goalkeeper Neequaye Lovelace in good shape deprived the Sekondi boys of the equalizer till the final whistle.

Stay Cool Hold Liberty

At Koforidua, Bottom Lying Stay Cool Professionals F/C, held Liberty Professionals to a goalless draw in their match played at Koforidua.

The first ten minutes of the game saw the Stay Cool boys dominating the exchanges and pushing hard into the area of Liberty but never caused and problem until Liberty found their rhythm and took control of the rest of the first half.

Liberty came close to taking the lead in the 20th, 37th and 38th minutes but the chances were wasted with the 20th minute chance being wasted by their inside right, Theophilus Torto and the rest by their inside left , William Tiero.

A golden opportunity for Liberty to take the lead in this half of the game came in the 42nd minute when in a struggle for the ball in the penalty box of Stay Cool, Tiero found himself closer to the ball than any body else and instead of concentrating on heading the ball to score, he went pushing and his head missed the ball to the relief of Stay Cool boys.

After the recess, Stay Cool took total control of the game and kept constant pressure on the Liberty boys but all the chances that came their way were wasted by their attackers to the disappointment of the spectators.

Both teams made changes but that did not change the trend of things till the final whistle of the match.

Kotoko Beat Mine Stars

At Prestea, Kumasi Asante Kotoko maintained their lead on the league table when they beat Prestea Mine Stars 2-0 in their encounter watched by a large crowd.

Kotoko won the match by scoring a goal in each half through Frank Osei and Aziz Ansah.

Osei opened the scores in the 47th minute to end the first half whilst overlapping Ansah made it two in the 60th minute to seal the doom of the homesters.

Okwawu Win

Okwawu United continued their winning spree at their new home, Mpraeso Brightons Park when they defeated visiting Tano Bofoakwa 2-0. Both goals were scored by Okwawu's current joint top goal scorer Osei Bonsu in the 25th and 75th minutes respectively.

Okwawu playing a determined game from the kick off wasted a corner and a free-kick in the 10th and 20th minutes which were all beautifully saved by Bofoakwa goalkeeper Ransford Kudjo.

In the 25th minute Bonsu scored from a well-connected header after receiving a cross from Noble Ohene Yaw.

After the goal, Boafoakwa adopted rough house tactics to frustrate Okwawu attackers which prompted Accra based class one referee Charles Dowona to show the yellow card to Bofoakwa' s Stephen Offei and Joseph Doe in the 32nd and 36th minutes respectively to stamp his authority on the game.

After recess, Okwawu sent in Eric Mensah for Ebenezer Baah whiles Bofoakwa also replaced Kofi Edusei with Alhaji Ibrahim to strengthen their attacking machinery.

The changes benefited the home team when they had their second goal in the 75th minute through Bonsu again to bring his goal tally to five this season. He beat two Bofoakwa defenders on the run after receiving a pass from Elvis Opoku before displacing goalkeeper Kudjo in Bofoakwa's goal.

Meanwhile the three member of parliament from the Eastern Region namely - Dr Francis Osafo Mensah, Eugene Atta Agypong, Orkachire Kwabina Adusa, representing Mpraeso, Abetifi and Nkawkaw donated 10 million cedis to the management of Okwawu United towards the running of the club.

Lions silence Arsenals

Kpando Heart of Lions managed to revenge their first round 2 - 0 defeat by Berekum Arsenals by beating them 1-0 in their 23rd week Kinapharma Premier league match played at the Kpando Stadium on Sunday.

The only goal of the match came in the 34th minute of the first half through a spot kick converted by Abraham Kudemor when Yaw Sebreh of Arsenals brought down Lawson Nubueke during a goal month melee. The match from then on was a ding dong affair with Arsenals making all effort to equalise during the dying minutes to no avail.

Kinapharma Premier League Standings

  CLUBS        P W L D F  A ... P W L D F A GD..  pts
 Kotoko       11 9 0 2 23 5    12 7 1 4 16 6 28   54
 Hearts       11 7 0 4 18 5    12 7 0 5 15 5 23   51
 King Faisal  12 8 2 2 23 8    11 4 3 4 12 7 20   42
 Goldfields   12 9 1 2 21 4    11 1 3 7 9 12 11   36
 Arsenals     11 8 2 1 14 4    12 3 8 1 8 13  5   35
 Liberty      11 4 1 6 13 7    12 4 5 3 12 16 2   33
 Olympics     12 5 3 4 14 10   11 1 4 6 7 11  0   28
 Hasaacas     11 7 0 4 14 6    12 0 9 3 3 15 -4   28
 Lions        12 7 1 4 17 9    11 1 10 0 5 23 -10 28
 Mines Stars  12 7 2 3 11 5    11 0 9 2 2 19 -11  26
 B. A United  12 7 2 3 10 7    11 1 10 0 7 21 -11 25
 R T U        11 6 3 2 12 5    12 0 7 5 4 22 -11  25
 Power        12 4 4 4 6  8    11 2 7 2 5 12 -9   24
 Okwawu       12 5 4 3 14 13   11 0 7 4 3 11 -7   22
 Bofoakwa     11 5 3 3 11 8    12 0 9 3 3 15 -9   21 
 Stay Cool    11 3 4 4 6  9    12 1 8 3 6 19 -16  19