Accra Hearts of Oak gave their supporters something to cheer about on Sunday afternoon as the put up a spirited performance to beat Ifeanyi Ubah of Nigeria 2-0 at the Accra sports stadium.
This was th Phobians second friendly match aftr registering their final 30 players ahead of the new season. The drew goalless with Inter Allies last Sunday, an action that did not go down too well with the fans.
But the performance of the team against the Nigerian side gave them hope, with most of them chanting the name of the head coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi after the game.
The game as expcted started on a slow note with both teams trying to size each other up. But it was Hearts who soon took control of the game winning most of possession and as well as creating great goalscoring opportunities, most of which was wasted by the strikers made up of Cosmos Dauda, Samudeen Ibrahim and Thomas Abbey.
The Nigerians resorted to hard tackles to stop the talented Hearts forwards with Isaac Mensah at the recieving end mostly. It came as little surprise when he was substituted in the 20th minute after picking up an injury when he was hacked down by one of the Ifeanyi Ubah rugged defenders.
He was replaced by Eric Kumi.
The fans were given something to cheer about when new entrant, Samudeen Ibrahim kept his composure to fire home the first goal in the 34th minute. It was a great goal by all standards. The move was started by Emmanuel Sabahn Laryea who gave a long pass to Eric Kumi.
The young lad then cut a pass across into the path of the onrushing Samudeen Ibrahim who coolly picked his spot to fire past Edwin Nkwakamma in post for the Nigerians.
It was all Hearts ofOak then on with the Nigerians pinned to their half. Samudeen Ibrahim and Dauda Cosmos were giving their opponents so much to think about.
In the 41st minute the few Nigerian fans that came to cheer the team cheered a goal by Ubah Ifeanyi, but is was disallowed, offside was the decision.
The first half ended 1-0 in favour of the hosts. But prior to that Soulama Abdoulaye and Ifeanyi Onuigbe were caught in a mini scuffle but referee managed to separate them before it could get serious.
Back from recess both teams made a couple of changes to their respective teams. Soulama Abdoulaye comes off for Samuel Akurugu.
The Nigerians became more physical with their tackles, with the likes of Cosmos Dauda, Samudeen Ibrahim at the receiving end of it.
But it was good for the Phobians as they won countless free kicks at vantage positions.
In the 64th minute Hearts of Oak replaced captain Robin Gnagne for Vincent Atinga with Selasi Adjei and Samuel Yeboah coming on for Samudeen Ibrahim and Cosmos Dauda.
Their presence was felt in the game as a few minutes later Hearts increased the tally to 2.
In the 76th minute, Thomas Abbey after ghosting past two Ifeanyi Ubah defenders slotted home the second goal, much to the delight of the fans who started singing the infamous ‘arose arose arose’ song again.
Hearts of Oak managed to hold on till the final whistle that saw them beat Nigerian Premier League side Ifeanyi Ubah 2-0.
Match Report: Hearts Of Oak Beat Ifeanyi Ubah 2-0 In International Cub Friendly Match
No comments:
Post a Comment