Hearts never says die

By Michael Amoah

Like their motto, Hearts of Oak came from behind three times to pull a magnificent 3-3 drawn game with Aduana Stars on Wednesday at the Accra Sports Stadium in matchday 26 of the 2017 Ghana Premier League.

With the title in sight, both clubs went into the game with a winning approach thus playing a hard pressing attacking game, but Aduana Stars were very quick in distributing the balls in midfield and deservingly took the lead in the 7th minute through Daniel Darkwah.

Sam Adams found Derrick Sasraku outside the Hearts of Oak eighteen yard box, the striker [Derrick Sasraku] beat his marker and laid a wall pass to Daniel Darkwah whose shot at goal took a deflection off Reuben Gnagne to swerve Ben Mensah in post for the Phobians.

Hearts of Oak responded quickly and pulled parity in the 15th minute after a great attacking move between Samudeen Ibrahim and Thomas Abbey before releasing the ball into the goal area for Winful Cobbinah to beautifully tweak the ball into the net.

The visitors [Aduana Stars] restored their lead just before the first half through Derrick Sasraku who went through the central defensive pair of Hearts [Reuben Gnagne and Vincent Atinga] with ease before sending Ben Mensah the wrong way.

Back from recess, Thomas Abbey also capitalized on Nana Yaw Afriyie’s defensive error to bring the Phobians back into the picture for the second time in the 50th minute.

Like the ‘Thrill in Manila,’ Nathaniel Asamoah restored the lead again for Aduana Stars in the 77th minute with assist from his strike partner Derrick Sasraku.

But, Nathaniel Asamoah’s goal could not win the day for the ‘Ogya Boys’ as Kwame Kizito struck late to end the game at 3-3 as the supporters of Hearts of Oak rejoice with the lyrics of their motto – Never Say Die Until The Bones Are Rotten.

Starting line-ups

Hearts of Oak: Ben Mensah, Fatau Mohammed, Richard Akrofi, Reuben Gnagne, Vincent Atinga, Leonard Tawiah, Patrick Razak, Samudeen Ibrahim, Kwame Kizito, Winful Cobbinah, Thomas Abbey

Aduana Stars: Stephen Adams, Emmanuel Akuoko, Abdul Rasheed, Nana Yaw Afriyie, Wahab Adams, Sam Adams, Elvis Opoku, Noah Martey, Derrick Sasraku, Nathaniel Asamoah, Daniel Darkwah.

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