Accra, Jan. 19, GNA – Accra Hearts of Oak secured a place in the Round of 16 of this year’s MTN FA Cup after beating Division One League Side Golden Kicks 5-2 at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday.
Goals from Kofi Kordzi, Daniel Afriyie, Kwadwo Obeng Junior, Seidu Suraj and James Serwornu ensured the Phobians kept their ambitions of defending the FA Cup on track.
Isaac Pappoe and Nathaniel Awaitey scored the two consolation goals for the lower-tier side.
It was an unchanged line up for Samuel Boadu’s side with the likes of Enoch Asubonteng and Salim Adams maintaining their place in the team after 4-1 win over Eleven Wonders in the league.
Hearts got off the scoring mark in the fifth minute through Kofi Kordzi who powered in a low drive to beat Golden Kicks goalkeeper Emmanuel Kwadwo after a wonderful assist by Ibrahim Salifu.
The game was very fascinating in the opening minutes and Golden Kicks striker Pappoe had a glorious opportunity to draw level for the away side but missed the post by a whisker.
Afriyie Barnieh doubled the lead for the Phobians with a close-range finish after a delightful cross from Salifu Ibrahim in the 20th minute but Afriyie had to be replaced by Kwadwo Obeng Junio after sustaining an injury.
The Division League side were very impressive with their play and deservedly pulled a goal back with Pappoe’s superb strike on the half hour mark beating Richmond Ayi in post for the Phobians.
Golden Kicks finished the first half the stronger and should have pulled parity in the late stages of the first half after a howler by Hearts defender Mohammed Alhassan handed Nathaniel Awaitey a wonderful opportunity but Richmond Ayi delivered a point blank save to deny the attacker.
Hearts defender James Serwornu restored Hearts of Oak’s two goal cushion after a stunning strike inside the penalty box in first half stoppage time.
Hearts at the start of the second half were in the mood for more goals as they made incursions in the Golden Kicks goal area.
Enock Asubonteng came close in making it four for the home side but his header from close range in the 50th minute went wide of the crossbar.
The Golden Kicks lads despite the dominance of Hearts, gave a good account of themselves with some display of one-touch football but lacked the quality in the final third to punish the Phobians.
However, the away side found that quality to pull a goal back in the 66th minute when striker Awaitey tapped in from close range after Pappoe’s shot was too hot to handle for goalkeeper Richmond Ayi.
Golden Kicks seemed to have found their playing rhythm with a quarter of the game left and looked the more likely side to score the next goal.
Owusu Dacosta came close to draw level for the away side but his well struck left footed strike missed the post by a whisker.
Substitute Kwadwo Obeng Junior did restore Hearts’ two goal cushion in the 83rd minute with a cross range header after Salifu’s third assist of the day
Seidu Suraj rounded up an emphatic victory for the Phobians with a fine finish in the late stages of the game having held on to move into the next round of the competition.
Hearts would now turn attention to the 2021/22 Ghana Premier League were they travel to Aiyinase to face Karela United in a match-day 14 encounter.
GNA