Morifing Donzo scored his first goal for Asante Kotoko in what proved to be the winner over arch rivals Hearts of Oak in the season’s first installment of the super clash at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Porcupine Warriors started the brighter of the two teams with Saaka Dauda going close after just 5 minutes with a left footed near post shot which went wide.
Karim Zito’s side continued to threaten in the early embers of the game and once again tested Hearts of Oak goalkeeper, Benjamin Asare with a Hubert Gyau shot from the edge of the box.
The home side seemed unable to cope with the early pressure and were under siege again, this time from Saaka Dauda, who failed to hit the target after great work from Peter Amidu Acquah to set him up.
Didi Dramani’s side only got their first sight of goal halfway through the first half, after a promising breakaway ended with forward Frank Duku unable to find Hamza Issah in the box, with what looked like a simple pass to complete.
Hearts thought they had taken the lead when the resulting corner was headed wide from close range by Baba Adamu, who rose uncontested.
The Phobians went close again moments later through Duku, whose powerful near post effort was initially spilled and quickly gathered by Kotoko goalkeeper Camara.
Kotoko had a big chance to score the opener on the 30-minute mark after a long throw was brilliantly flicked on by Donzo and met by Hubert Gyau, but his header went agonizingly wide.
The FA Cup champions deservedly took the lead on the stroke of halftime with an expertly taken penalty kick by Morifing Donzo – his first goal for Kotoko, after Amidu Acquah was brought down by Amankwah Baafi in the box.
Hearts of Oak made an immediate substitution at the start of the second half, with Martin Karikari replacing Frank Duku.
The change injected some verve into the Hearts attack, and Hearts created the first real chance of the half with Raphael Amponsah shooting wide from 25 yards after good work from Hamza Issah.
Hearts went close again on the 60th minute mark, with Kotoko captain, Samba, making a crucial block to deny substitute Karikari from finding an unmarked Hamza Issah in the box.
The Phobians had a huge scare just moments later when a lapse in concentration from Assibey resulted in a back pass which played Donzo through on goal, but his shot was charged down by Ali Mohammed, who denied what looked like the second goal for the Porcupine Warriors.
Kotoko seemed to use that moment to wrestle back momentum and almost doubled their lead when Samba’s near-post header from a Peter Amidu corner just went wide of the post, as the Hearts defense stood still.
Didi Dramani made some late changes with Mawuli Wayo being introduced, and he got the ball n the back of the net in spectacular fashion in what seemed like the equalizer only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Hearts pushed for the late equalizer deep into injury time but were just unable to cause any real problems for Kotoko, who registered yet another win over their rivals at the Accra Sports Stadium.
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