Hearts suffer second defeat in Premier League

Accra, Oct. 21, GNA - League champions, Accra Hearts of Oak suffered their second successive defeat of the Premier League soccer season after visiting Kumasi King Faisal stunned them with a 2-0 victory in their Week Two clash on Wednesday.

Second half efforts from Frank Acheampong and Prince Arkoh were enough for the Kumasi-based Club to clinch their first maximum three points of the 2009/2010 season.

The two clubs, both losers on the opening day started unimpressively of the closely contested encounter watched by a sparse crowd at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra.

The flow of the game was blighted by a power outage after about five minutes and from then it had to more extra six minutes for the technicians to restore power.

Faisal, a bogey-club for the Phobians since joining the elite division over a decade ago, appeared purposeful on the attack as the Hearts' midfield duo of new recruits, Theophilus Apoh and Alhaji Alhassan failed to link up with the attack.

This compelled the defending champions to switch to the flanks with captain Bernard Don Bortey laying several raids upfront, but striker Masawudu Mumuni responded shabbily, while Mahatma Otoo missed target narrowly a couple of occasions.

After a barren first half characterized by scanty chances at goal, it was the visitors who resumed strongly and it came as only a matter of time for the opener to come the wy of Faisal

On 54 minutes, Acheampong broke the deadlock by tucking in a rebound after Arkoh's harmless cross that kissed the upright surprisingly beat Hearts goalie Tetteh Lugard, who was on a virtual holiday. With defeat staring at his side, Hearts' Egyptian coach Ayman El-Yammani replaced Mumuni with Richard Atika and the fans responded with a large boo for the unsatisfactory performance displayed by the striker. Five minutes past the hour mark, petit midfielder Obed Ansah also replaced Douglas Nkrumah saw Ansah, one of the best performers last season bringing some life into the Phobian's attack.

On 69 minutes, Arkoh authenticated Faisal's lead by connecting home from a goalmouth action from a free-kick. Try as the Phobians' could do, their efforts failed to yield the needed results for them to slump to their second defeat of the two-week old soccer season.