President's Cup: Hearts Beat Kotoko On Penalties

Before kickoff, Hearts of Oak were the most successful club in the President’s Cup history with three titles. Now, after Wednesday's win, they have four.

Kotoko and Berekum Chelsea have won the competition twice each.

The Phobians confirmed their superiority over their archrivals Asante Kotoko, winning 5-4 on penalties to win the 2015 edition at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The match ended goalless after regulation time.

Foovi Agudi scored Hearts’ last penalty to clinch them the trophy, after the players of both sides had converted from the spot kick, but only Michael Akuffo missed from the shootout.

Hearts of Oak had plenty of the possession and created decent scoring opportunities in the first half, but were not purposeful upfront as misses from their attacking duo of Eric Kumi and Paul Acquah denied them a goal.

The first chance of the game fell the way of Eric Kumi in the 18th minute after he had beaten his marker Smallboy Korbah, but he surprisingly missed from close range.

Kotoko could have gone ahead in the late minute of the first half when an inswing by Atta Kusi was wasted by Eric Kumi to bring the half into a close.

Back from recess the tempo of the game decreased, with the two sides playing a more relaxed game. The Porcupine Warriors at a point upped their game and created clear goal scoring opportunity with 20 minutes into the half, but  Eric Kumi blasted the ball wayward to give Hearts of Oak a big sigh of relieve.

Soulayema Abdoulaye was called to duty by Kotoko marksman Ahmed Toure and the Burkinabe goalkeeper acrobatically saved the situation for Hearts of Oak.

Toure again headed a strong ball which hit the cross bar.

Teams

Hearts starting line-up: Soulama Abdoulaye,  Fatau Abdulai, Isaac Oduro, Robin Gnagne, Philip Boampong, Saban Laryea,, Issa Mumuni, Isaac Mensah, Paul Acquah, Selassie Adjei,

Kotoko starting line-up: Ofori Antwi, Atta Kusi, Smallboy Korbah, Ahmed Adams, Michael Akuffu, Jordan Opoku, Prince Baffoe, Eric Donkor, Obed Owusu, Ahmed Toure