Kotoko, Hearts classic in Kumasi on Sunday

By George Osei

Kumasi Asante Kotoko will seek to preserve their unbeaten run in the Glo Premier League (GPL) as they welcome bitter rivals Accra Hearts of Oak to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Sunday.

The Porcupine Warriors are the only undefeated side in this season’s championship and would be eager to keep hold of that record after the final whistle is blown on Sunday afternoon.

Kotoko are the form side going into this game and would expect to win as they seek to defend the title they won so comfortably last season.

In the six games they have played so far, the Reds have posted two wins and four draws have scored six goals and conceded three with a point build – up op of 10 and occupy the seventh position in the 16 – club contest.

They started the season by drawing their first four games, but, back – to –back wins over Berekum Arsenal and Medeama SC has lifted up their confidence and they should be in buoyant mood as they head into this battle.

The situation is quiet the opposite in the camp of the Phobians whose campaign began on a positive note as they picked four points from their opening two games, but, then lost their next three culminating in the sacking of their head coach, Charles K. Akunnor.

The former Ghana captain has been replaced by David Duncan whose duty it would be to marshal a plan that could see Kotoko taste defeat for the first time this season.

Hearts has seven points from their six games and are placed 12th, a statistic that many of their faithful do not take kindly and want an improvement.

This would be the 97th league match between the two giants of Ghana football with each winning 32 times which is the same number of draw games they have posted since the national league was started back in 1958.

Kotoko have hosted Hearts 46 times in league games and hold an 18 – 16 winning rate over their rivals from the capital with the rest being drawn and this perhaps would spur them on to go for the jugular on Sunday.

They will be the odds on favourites to carry this fixture if the record books are to be believed, but, Hearts could have other ideas.

When the odds are heavily stacked against them, the Phobians have always found a way to turn things around and with a new man in charge of their technical affairs; he would want to pull a fast one over his counterpart in the Reds’ corner.

That is a scenario Coach Mas ud Didi Dramani would want to avoid and how he sets up his charges to confront what would be put before them, would go a long way in determining how successful or otherwise he would be when the final whistle sounds.

Source: George Osei(okotosports@yahoo.com)