Accra Hearts of Oak beat rivals Asante Kotoko 0-1 in the Ghana Premier League courtesy a strike from young striker Samuel Afum at the Babayara Sports Stadium.
It was the last season Hearts did the league double over Kotoko. And coincidentally, Samuel Afum, who had scored in Accra, became the first player in the history of the Kotoko-Hearts rivalry to score the SOLE WINNER in back-to-back games in one season.
Also, Samuel Afum joined Robert Foley
Robert Foley (right) set the record as the only player to score in 1-0 and 0-1 Hearts victories over Kotoko in 1969 and 1975. But Afum joined the star in 2010.
(1969 and 1975) as the second Hearts player to score in 0-1 and 1-0 victories against Kotoko in the league.
The win also ensured Hearts recorded a third double over Kotoko in the league in 11 years (1999, 2006/7 and 2009/10).
On the other hand, Kotoko have gone 28 years and counting without beating Hearts back-to-back in one league season. The last time Kotoko did the league double over Hearts was in 1987 when they won 2-0 in Kumasi and 0-1 in Accra. [na dem born you?]
Remember that that poor Kotoko record still continues and after this season, it will be 29 years. But because they cannot do the double over Hearts, having lost in Kumasi, we can boldly say the wait will stand at three decades. Yes 30 years. Oh-it’s-hard-to-be-a-porcupine!!!
Yet, it is pure bliss to be a Phobian. Ain’t you proud to be a Phobian?
Forever keeping the loud-mouth rival SILENT. Be quiet and don’t be silly is not an empty phrase.
Big salute to Samuel Afum, who went on to win the joint-goal king for the season.
It’s that time of the season, when the Glorious Acccra Hearts of Oak rekindles her eternal rivalry with Kumasi Asante Kotoko, and leading up to the game on Saturday, HeartsEleven.wordpress.com, will take you through Heart of Oak’s finest league victories at the Kumasi fortress of Kumasi.
KOTOKO 3 – 4 HEARTS (24th August, 1958):
This game was the beginning of the age-old rivalry between the two Ghanaian heavyweights. Hearts of Oak were the dominant force in pre-Independent Ghana, having won the Guggisberg Shield six times in 12 years. In confirmation of the Rainbow Club’s pre-Independence supremacy, and on this first ever meeting in the league against Kotoko at the Kumasi Jackson Park, the Phobians played the home side off the pitch. In an exciting opening 45-minutes, Hearts scored three quality goals through Ofei Dodoo, C.K Gyamfi and Nii Dowuona. But after recess, Kotoko pegged back the scores before Ofei Dodoo
Ofei Dodoo was the first player to score in the Hearts-Kotoko rivalry. He scored a brace in the first meeting.
doubled his tally to put Hearts in the lead again. However, the game was abandoned in the 70th minute when Kotoko’s Dogo Moro refused to leave the pitch after he was red-carded by the center Referee. In the temporary kerfuffle, Hearts goalkeeper Addoquaye Laryea was injured and rushed to the hospital, and 100 fans were arrested after the confusion escalated into a riot.
But although the game did not end, the Hearts win was never in doubt.
KOTOKO 3 – 4 in Kumasi (1983):
A-quarter-of-a-century after taking a commanding 3-0 first half lead in Kumasi , and allowing their opponents to peg the scores, before going on to take the lead again, Hearts repeated the wondrous chicanery against Kotoko at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The Rainbow Club, powered by Sam Yeboah’s brace and Botwe’s goal, took a sensational 3-0 lead before the break against the home side. However, Opoku Nti – now CEO of Kotoko – scored three quick goals on resumption to level the scores. But in another dramatic twist, defender Hesse Odamtten headed the winner late on to quell the threatened Kotoko rebellion. Odamtten’s header could still rate as the best headed goal scored in Hearts history. It was not so much for the technique or power as the bravery, daring and temerity to dive in, knowing he would be injured after connecting to the ball. Injured, he was after the goal, but Hesse Odamtten never cared as Hearts carried all the three points.
KOTOKO 1 – 2 in Kumasi (3rd March, 1978):
It’s highly unusual for 10 men to win against 11 men in a football game, but it is extremely unfathomable for 9 men to win against 11 men away from home in a Derby match. But that is exactly what Glorious Hearts did in 1978 at the home of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, during the pomp of the “Fearsome Fivesome”. Midfield maestro, Robert Hammond, was in his elements to set up Bismark Odoi for the first goal in the first half. Kotoko equalized 10 minutes after the break but Hearts protested against the contentious equalizer only for Referee Bah Alhassan of Sunyani to send off skipper Robert Hammond and Seth Ampadu in the 55th minute. For 35 minutes, the nine men played as if they were 20. Thrice, Yahya Kahn had to be alert to avert Hearts from taking the lead again, but at the death, he would wilt and so would the Porcupine fans. If the Phobians felt hard done by the Kotoko goal and the refereeing, it was all forgotten when Douglas Tagoe conjured a thunderous strike at the death to gift 9-man Hearts all the three points, the bragging rights, and most importantly, instant justice that put Kumasi to silent sorrowful sleep.
4 KOTOKO 1 – 2 HEARTS (8th February, 2009): The Daily Graphic (Monday, 9th February, 2009 edition) called it a “21-gold carat performance” from Accra Hearts of Oak. They were not wrong. Hearts outclassed, outfoxed, outmaneuvered, outrun and outplayed Kumasi Asante Kotoko in their backyard during this fixture. Hassan Mohammed scored first and Obed Ansah doubled the lead in the second half before Stephen Oduro pulled a goal back. But it could have been more had Hearts not taken her foot off the gas, and the young Samuel Afum
Samuel Afum in a league action for Hearts. He missed a lot of chances in his first game against Kotoko, but he scored back-to-back when he found his feet against the old enemy in the 2009/10 season.
not laced his scoring boots with clemency shots.
The 2-1 win in Kumasi was Hearts’ first victory over Kotoko at the Kumasi Sports Stadium since Edmund Copson’s
Edmund Copson, second from right, scored for 10-man Hearts to beat Kotoko in Kumasi in 1999.
lone goal put the Garden City to early sleeplessness in 1999. But the decade-long reprieve is flattering for the Porcupines who managed only two wins in that space of time. In fact, the Phobians actually pipped Kotoko 0-1 in the latter’s 2006/7 premier league home fixture that had been shifted to Cape Coast as a result of reconstruction work at the Kumasi Sports Stadium in preparation for the CAN 2008.
KOTOKO 1 – 2 HEARTS (1990)
A league decider that established Accra Hearts of Oak’s reputation for the big occasion. The Rainbow Club was a point ahead of Asante Kotoko and needed a draw to secure the league title, but Hearts did not do “draws” when it mattered most.
The rhetoric before the much-anticipated match was: “
Boy wonder Papa Shamo Quaye leather outdoes Kotoko prodigy Joe Debrah.
Shamo Quaye versus Joe Debrah: Who is Who?”
The home team paraded a crack rearguard, which they called “barrier”, made up of the likes of Black Stars defenders Emmanuel Ampeah, Kwasi Appiah (former Black Stars captain and coach), Frimpong Manso, but Hearts entered the game as barrier-breakers.
Shamo Quaye gave Hearts the lead shortly after the break with a sweet volley, not only to power Hearts to victory but to confirm his triumph over his rival, Joe Debrah on the day. However, Starlets defender Baba Musah rose highest to head home the equalizer from a corner kick. But before the jubilant home supporters could regain their calm and resume their seats, Anthony “the cannonball” Tieku had restored Hearts’ lead, tapping home the rebound, after Kotoko goalkeeper Mohammed Odom failed to give a firm grab of Mohammed Polo’s shot, which had come about after the magnificently marvelous Mohammed had waltzed past five players straight from the restart. Remarkably, that was the day Kotoko fans serendipitously celebrated a Hearts goal. The legion of Porcupine fans were still basking in the ephemeral glory of their equalizer and did not see the Anthony Tieku winning strike. They only realized Hearts had scored the winner at full-time, when the score-board read 1-2 for the Rainbow Club.
[The above legend was a replica of the 1985 decider in Kumasi. There again, the Phobians needed a draw to clinch their second straight league title. Inspired by ex-Kotoko legend Opoku Afriyie, the Rainbow boys ran away with a famous 0-1 victory courtesy Joe Amoateng.]
KOTOKO 0 – 1 HEARTS (1970)
From the esoteric world, news had filtered through prior to the game that for Hearts to win the game, a player would have to “self-immolate”. Stand forward, George “Ga Mantse” Alhassan
George “Ga Mantse” Alhassan got his leg broken by Oliver Acquah but Hearts won the game without their famous striker. [right – Pele], who sacrificed his body for the Phobia victory. All these might have been coincidental, but the truth of the matter was that Hearts did, indeed win by a lone goal, and George Alhassan got his league broken by defender Oliver Acquah in the third minute of the game. This was also the season city-rivals Accra Great Olympics pipped Hearts to the league by a single point, and Kotoko, defending league champions, finished a disappointing 11th.
Hearts were not so forgiving when the two met at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The Daily Graphic reporter on the match day, E.A Boateng, reported the game thus: “Kumasi Asante Kotoko yesterday crumbled before thousands of their followers to Accra Hearts of Oak in their outstanding league match at the Kumasi Sports Stadium
And the 1-0 defeat which they suffered will go down in the record books as the bitterest ever tasted at the hands of Hearts, for they were outclassed in all the departments of the game. It was a first minute goal scored by Africa Cup star Robert Foley who brilliantly gave a scissors kick to a well taken corner kick by left winger Kofi Bruce.
Throughout the game, Hearts played a masterpiece of soccer and excelled both in strategy and skills.
Their defense pivot on veteran Addo Odamtey rendered Kotoko’s attack ineffective.
Master dribbler Osei Kofi was well marked and it was Africa Cup star Malik who showed brilliance in Kotoko’s attack but the resultant corner kick was wasted
Kotoko pressed hard but the vital equalizer never came.”
Need we add more to this picturesque description of the Hearts win?
KOTOKO 0 – 1 HEARTS (Sunday, May 12, 1991): Hearts of Oak were on the verge of a mental collapse after they were lugubriously knocked-out of Africa by Petro Atletico of Angola. The Phobians’ bright season had hit its first real test when they beat the Angolans 4-2 in Accra, only to lose 3-1 in Angola. To make matters worse, a few players were accused of pilfering at their Luanda hotel. The league had also faced a lot of postponements during the first round, and when this fixture arrived, the Porcupine fans rubbed it in for Hearts by showing up with bed sheets at the Stadium, a clear mimicking of the “Hearts-Angola-Bedsheet-gate.” Now, the game was supposed to be a party for the red half of Kumasi, but Hearts rose to the occasion once again. The equally brilliant and enterprising Ezekiel Alamu scored the only goal of the game, seven minutes into the second half, to once again silence the planned Phobia humiliation. Kotoko fans had come poised to deride their rivals, but the Phobians ended up riding shoulder high back to the Capital. He who laughs last…
8. KOTOKO 1 – 2 HEARTS (1st December, 1996): This was the first game of the 1996/97 season. Hearts took the long trip to Kumasi to face Kumasi Asante Kotoko on the opening day, and it was here that the Phobians laid the gauntlet for the season.
Long time servant and captain, Nii Noi Dowuona put Hearts in the lead in the first half, but after the break, Kotoko equalized through a penalty. Hearts got a penalty of their own, which was spurned by Godwin Ablordey (latter day Kotoko legend), but Theophilus Amusu was on hand to score the winner for the visitors. It is the most important single win for Hearts in the late 20th century against Kotoko. That victory turned the tide for Hearts, and gave the players the belief that they could achieve the ultimate. And they did go ahead to win the league at the end of the season. Coincidentally, and more befittingly, Nii-Noi Dowuona, once-upon-a-time-Hearts-green-horn, was the one who popped up to convert a late penalty against city-rivals Great Olympics to hand Hearts her first league title since 1990. Unknown to anybody then, the Phobians were sowing the seeds for an unprecedented period of dominance in Ghanaian football, a phenomenal era that saw their eventual annexation of the CAF Champions League in 2000, the fourth year of Hearts’ six-year stranglehold on the local league.
9. KOTOKO 1 – 2 HEARTS (17th October, 1976): The Phobians had gone three years without the league title, although they had a very talented squad.
Promotion from within had seen youngster Ofei Ansah break into the squad, and a rising Mohammed Polo cementing his name in Ghanaian football history. Hearts were held to a 1-1 drawn game by league contenders Kotoko in Accra, but they needed to win the return league in order to set day-light between themselves and their closest challengers, Kotoko in the season. At the Kumasi Sports Stadium, Malik Jabir got the opener for the home side in the first half, but Peter “goal-thief” Lamptey and Robert Hammond scored to turn defeat to victory for Hearts of Oak. The Phobians won their remaining two games to clinch the league title, and also start another period of dominance which would see them win three titles in four seasons, but unfortunately, the late 1970s revival could not lead to a continental success.
KOTOKO 1 – 2 HEARTS (13th June, 1993): There was something special about Hearts in the early 1990s when they went to play Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. What exactly it was, we still cannot pin-point, but the Phobians always rose to the occasion at the cauldron of the Porcupines. This game was the last of four consecutive away victories at the home of Kotoko, from 1989-93 – all of them ending by one goal victory margins; 1-2, 0-1, 0-1, 1-2.
On this occasion, Bernard Aryee and Massawudu scored two beautiful goals in a space of 23 minutes of the first half to hand Hearts a healthy lead before the break. Strangely, Kotoko goalkeeper Sampson Appiah was replaced by Anthony Osei Kojo after conceding the two goals, and the Porcupines pulled a goal back mid-way into the second half through Joseph Okyere, but Hearts held on to continue their four-game winning streak at the home of Kotoko in the league.
KOTOKO 2 – 5 HEARTS (2nd November, 1958): This was the second ever game between Hearts and Kotoko. Although details of the scorers and history-makers have been lost to time, the 5 Hearts of Oak goals still remain the highest scored by one-side in the 100 league games played between the two sides. The Kumasi Jackson Park played host to what was popularly becoming the Game-of-the-Nation post Independence. After Dogo Moro’s refusal to leave the pitch when he was red-carded had plunged the game into anarchy leading to a call-off, with Hearts leading 4-3 at the home of Kotoko, the League Management Committee ordered for a replay on the 2nd November, 1958. Hearts continued where they had left off, pummeling their opponents to a 5-2 humiliation in the replay to set her on course for her second league triumph in two years – and first title win in Independent Ghana. The Hearts victory also set Phobia minds wondering what could have been, had the first meeting not ended at 4-3. Maybe, Hearts could have scored more in the last 20 minutes, but it did not matter at all, as the 5-2 win in the replay was enough justice.
![George "Ga Mantse" Alhassan got his leg broken by Oliver Acquah but Hearts won the game without their famous striker. [right - Pele]](https://heartseleven.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ga-mantse-alhas.jpg)
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