Accra Great Olympics are angry about an alleged request by Kumasi Asante Kotoko that they play it soft when they clash in a premier league match at the Kumasi Stadium on Sunday.

According to GNA Sports, the request, which was aired by an Accra FM Radio station cited Kotoko's impending African Cup Winners Cup quarterfinal match against Egyptian club Ghazel El Mahala as the basis for their demand to prevent players of the Porcupine Warriors from sustaining injuries.

Mr Frank Davies, a management member of Olympics, described the request as untenable and an insult to the integrity of the entire Great Olympics family. "It lies ill to say that," he said, adding that Kotoko have a coach and it is left to him to map out strategies which his boys would adopt to avoid injuries because Olympics are going to Kumasi to win.

He said, "Kotoko should prepare for a match on Sunday" because it is the determination of Olympics to redeem their image by avenging the 3-0 defeat meted out to them in Accra in the first round.

Mr David Duncan, Head Coach of Olympics, said "it is unethical for a radio station to say that kind of thing ahead of a league match which is supposed to be competitive."

He described the suggestion as a psychological gimmick which is bound to fail because he has psyched up his players sufficiently to put them in the right frame of mind for the match and no tricks would draw them back. The Head Coach, who was flanked by his assistant, Abdul Aziz fumed: "I am mad, terribly mad and if the referees would not be influenced to favour Kotoko, we shall win the match in Kumasi.

" I did it two times as a player of Great Olympics and I am going to do it as a coach," he said.

He advised Ghanaian referees to keep their heads above water and not to allow themselves to be corrupted by team officials because "refereeing is a hobby and not a profession for making quick money," adding that it is a distinguished vocation which guarantees respect and recognition if it is properly practised. Coach Duncan asked the Referees Association of Ghana to appoint "referees of integrity" for the match against Kotoko and charged the Ashanti Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service to provide adequate security at the stadium on Sunday.

Mr. Robert Fletcher Djoleto, another member of the Olympics management committee, said their ambition is to make the club one of the biggest in the country and they would therefore not compromise on that ambition by losing points deliberately to any club.

Reacting to the alleged request, the PRO of Kotoko, Mr Mohammed Haruna, denied knowledge of any such move by the management of the club in spite of the cordial relations that exist between the two clubs.

He said he was not aware of any official letter by the management of Kotoko to Olympics to that effect and conjectured the matter must have been the product of the rumour mill or perhaps some football fans expressing concern about Kotoko's impending continental match vis-a-vis the league games.

Mr Haruna said it was a surprise to him when he heard the reaction of Olympics on the air waves about the alleged request by Kotoko when indeed the management of Kotoko had not made any such request.