Star Premier league 20th Week

 GHAPOHA    1-0  Kotoko
 Bofoakwa   1-1  Hearts
 Olympics   2-0  B. Arsenals
 Hasaacas   3-1  Liberty Profs
 K'birem    2-1  RTU  
 K. Faisal  1-1  Dawu Youngsters  
 Adansiman  2-1  Maxbees
 Okwawu     Ppd  Goldfields 

Accra Hearts of Oak consolidated their lead in the Star Premier League when they drew 1-1 away with Bofoakwa at the Sunyani Coronation Park on Sunday.

With second placed Kotoko losing 0-1 to Ghapoha on Saturday, the Phoibians have taken a step towards the retention of the title and winning it for the fourth time on the trot.

Hearts went into the match without big names, Osei Kuffour and Charles Taylor, but the Phobians attacked in bursts and went ahead in the sixth minute through Edmund Copson.

The visitors stunned the home side with the early goal and sustained the pressure, looking for the second and when Kwame Antwi's cannon grazed the bar in the 18th minute, Bofoakwa realised the need to shake up the slumber to avoid a massacre.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Mohammed Alhassan stood tall with some excellent interventions to keep the score 1-0 at half time.

During the second stanza, Bofoakwa stepped up their game and matched Hearts boot for boot, contesting every ball and covering every blade of grass on the field.

The fast pace of the game might have taken its toll on the players as the game slowed down considerably, a situation which suited the homers who had found the swift running Hearts players difficult to contain.

In the 64th minute, Abdulai "Fan Milk" Tahiru evened scores when he slotted home a shot to silence the vociferous Hearts supporters.

The game wore on with action swinging from one end to the other and despite maximum substitutions made by both sides, no more goals were scored until referee Solomon Yamoah ended proceedings.

EDS: Okwawu/Goldfields match postponed because Goldfields were scheduled to play Africa Sports of Cote D'Ivoire on Sunday in CAF Cup quarterfinal second leg match in Abidjan.

Oly Win
Resurgent Accra Great Olympics managed a 2-0 win over Berekum Arsenals in their 20th week Star league match played at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Under the instructions of Cape Coast-based class one referee, S. Essel- Walker, both teams moved swiftly into action in their bid to annex the maximum three points.

It was a match that could best be described as the match of the equals even though Olympics had numerical advantage over Arsenal as early as the second minute when Frank Yeboah was shown a red card for intentionally bringing down Frank Adjei of Olympics in the penalty box.

With their newly found strength and determination, Olympics wasted no chance in scoring their first goal when David Lakotey converted the resultant spot kick.

Spurred on by this early lead, Olympics fought hard to increase the tally but wasted many of the goal scoring chances that came their way especially in the 32nd and 35th minutes when Kobina Dadzie's powerful shots went over the bar.

On resumption, Olympics came back a more improved side but continued wasting their chances as balls were shot over the bar or went straight into the waiting arms of goalkeeper Isaac Zigah in post for Arsenals.

As Olympics hoped against hope of scoring again, J B Danquah put back smiles on their faces when he increased the tally for his side in the 82nd minute.

Even though Arsenals also failed to utilise a 59th minute George Browne chance denying his side a goal.

Tottering King Faisal struggled to hold Dawu Youngsters 1-1 in their match played at the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Dawu took the lead in the 46th minute through Awudu Adama who capitalised on a defensive blunder to score and Ronaldo Adama equalised on the stroke of full time.

Faisal would have had themselves to blame if they had lost the game for, they had all the chances to win the match but blew them away especially, in the 45th minute when Abubakar Yehuza shot over the bar after Dawu's goalkeeper William Amamoo had brought down Ben Wilson for a penalty.

Faisal remains on the fringes of the relegation zone on 21 points. The homers started the game in a whirlwind fashion and earned a free kick, just outside Dawu's penalty box but the chance was wasted.

Dawu snatched the leader through Awudu Adama in the 46th minute when he capitalised on a defensive blunder to slot home.

Faisal made two substitutions in the 15th and 18th minutes, pulling out Kwabena Opoku and Eric Gawu for Isaac Addo and Ronaldo Amadu respectively.

Dawu also replaced injured Nurudeen Asibi with Moro Amartey in the 63rd minute, but it was Faisal who pushed forward for the equaliser and in the 74th and 76th minutes, substitute Addo and veteran Emmanuel Ampiah hit the posts in turns.

They piled on the pressure and bombarded Dawu's goal area but goalkeeper Amamoo proved unyielding as he grabbed almost all the goal bound shots until Ronaldo Amadu beat him on the stroke of full time, bringing the final scores to one apiece.

GHAPOHA beat Kotoko
GHAPOHA FC ended Asante Kotoko’s winning spree in the Star Premier League this afternoon with a lone goal scored in the first half. GHAPOHA FC got the only goal of the game, the match winner in the 5th minute through a low grounder by Sam Hanson.

Hanson fired the ball past goalkeeper Osei Boateng into the far corner of the Kotoko post after receiving a defensive splitting pass.

Asante Kotoko’s captain, Godwin Ablordey was sent off by Referee F.K. Mensah after he struck an opposing player with the elbow in an off the ball incident.

Reduced to ten men, the porcupine warriors started the second half on an improved note creating clear scoring chances but failing to convert the chances.

Kotoko’s brightest opportunity of equalising fell to substitute midfielder, Anas Mohammed, whose 35metre drive was however parried to corner by GHAPOHA goalkeeper, Abubakari Kankani.

 P  W D L F  A    P W D L  F  A ...Pts GD
 Hearts     10 10 0 0 28 5   10 4 4 2 10  7    46  26
 Kotoko     10 10 0 0 17 0    9 4 2 3 12  7    44  23 
 Dawu        9  6 1 2 12 4   11 3 2 6 11 18    30   1 
 Hasaacas   11  8 1 2 13 7    9 1 2 6 7  14    30   0 
 RTU         9  7 2 0 14 2   11 1 2 8 6  16    28   2 
 Okwawu     10  5 2 3 12 7    9 2 4 3 12 13    27   5 
 Goldfields 10  6 2 2 14 10   9 3 0 6 7  10    26   1 
 Bofoakwa   10  6 4 0 16 8    9 0 4 5 1  10    26  -1 
 Ghapoha    11  5 4 2 11 6    9 1 3 5 3   7    25   1 
 K'bibirem  11  6 3 2 15 9    9 1 0 8 2  12    24  -4 
 Liberty     9  3 2 4  9 11  11 3 3 5 11 15    23  -6 
 Arsenals    9  5 3 1 10 5   11 1 1 9 4  24    22 -15 
 Faisal     10  5 4 1 12 6   10 1 2 7 4  13    21  -3 
 Olympics   10  4 3 5  9 10  10 1 5 4 5   9    20  -5 
 Adansiman  10  4 3 3 10 10   9 1 2 6 7  14    20  -7 
 Maxbees     9  4 3 2 11 11  11 1 0 10 6 28    19 -22