A 75th Christopher Bonney penalty earned all three points for Accra hearts of Oak as they beat visiting Karela United FC by a lone goal at the Accra sports stadium in the match day twelve of the ongoing Ghana Football Association (GFA) special competition.
Both teams started the game on a slow note in a raining first half, which was making ball control and passes difficult for both team as they struggled to put decent passes together.
Hagan Isaac in post for Karela United was called into action to make a fantastic save to rescue his side from conceding an early goal on a wet and slippery pitch.
It was a midfield affair as both teams were playing with caution to avoid mistakes due to the slippery nature of the pitch, yet decent passes were hard to come by.
Hagan was called into action again in the 35th minute but this time from a strong back pass that could have been disastrous for Karela, who were enjoying a better play in the day but Hagan stood tall to head away to a throw in.
Karela United was gifted a glorious opportunity to open the scoring in the stroke of half time but a decent cross from the left hand of attack was wasted as hearts also wasted a last minute opportunity to end the first half with a goal but to no avail as the additional two minutes added on was wasted.
Karela United came into the second half looking more dangerous with their fluent play up field but Appiah Darlington blasted wide a good chance to put his side ahead in the early minutes of the second half.
Karela United kept the Hearts defence busy by asking all the questions in search of an opener, with a nice one0two splitting passes into Hearts 18 hard box to pile more pressure on the home side but Richard Ayi, in post for Accra Hearts of Oak, was equal to the task with a decent save to still keep the score at 0:0 in the 49th minute.
Hearts of Oak, warmed themselves up into the game very well, with some neat passes but always lacking the cutting edge as their final delivery was always poor.
Karela United upped their game with an intention of getting a win or at least a draw from the Accra sports stadium with a fast counter attack that missed the pole by inches.
Coach Kim Grant had to revise his tactics to bring on Kofi Kordzi for tired Abdul Omar Manaf to solidify the speed in midfield area from the pressing Karela, who looked likely to get an opener, with their counter attacking play.
Karela United Goal keeper was called into action again but this time spilled a low drive shot from Daniel Kodie for hearts corner kick.
The game started getting more physical as tired legs were being exhibited with the first yellow card for the game going to Karela United’s Ampem Dacosta in the 60th minute with a second card for the day going to Hearts of Oak’s Michelle Sarpong a minute after Dacosta’s card.
Hearts made a second substitution into the game by bringing on Malik Akowuah Aminu Alhassan as Karela kept squandering goal begging g chances.
As the game was heading for a goalless draw, Daniel Kodie was brought down in the 18 yard box, which Christopher Bonney stepped out to take the resulting penalty kick in the 75th minute to bring the stadium to life from the few hearts fans in the stands.
Kim Grant threw in his last substitution card by introducing Michelle Sarpong for Benjamin Agyare as Karela brought on Alhaji Sani for Darlington to salvage a point for the travelling Karela but all to no avail.
Hearts now top Zone B with 25 points with Karela following keenly with 21 points, with Liberty Professionals on third with 19 points after twelve games.
By Emmanuel Asante Attakora