Top 4 champions, Accra Hearts of Oak, chase a second off-season trophy and a third straight victory over Ashantigold as the two sides clash in Accra on Sunday in the return leg of the 2009 SWAG Cup.
Already basking in their latest silverware — the Top 4 trophy — which they won for keeps, Hearts have invoked the famous spirit that characterised their memorable days in both local and international competitions, executing a four-match winning streak and playing six games without defeat on their way to annexing their third Top 4 title.
This new-found pedigree will be put to the test by Coach David Duncan’s side at the Ohene Djan Stadium in what is expected to be evoke the nerves that have given special distinction to recent clashes between the two sides.
It will be the fourth meeting between the sides in less than two months, with Hearts finally breaking down their opponents in their last two ties after three successive draws.
But despite those victories in the Top 4 tournament, Ashantigold offered more than an ordinary contest, and the 1-0 margins reflected the almost even games the two sides shared.
It also reflected the trend of rivalry between the sides and which has been boosted by uncompromising stands in even ‘friendly’ affairs.
That Coach Duncan and his charges left Accra empty handed after the last matches of Top 4 tournament last Sunday is a testimony of Hearts’ new-found rhythm, while the emergence of the sensational Osei Pele in Hearts colours has almost muted the potential that Malik Akowuah, Addoquaye Addo and Latif Mohammed bear in the Ashantigold line-up.
Indeed, the semblance that the two sides bear in terms of player quality and youthfulness put them on even pegging, but their difference is always evidenced in their levels of motivation.
Coach Paa Kwesi Fabin’s search for a career renaissance after a near-disastrous campaign with Asante Kotoko has produced a compact Hearts’ team from him, but equally motivated is Coach Duncan who must still be rueing his narrow miss of the league title on the last day of the last season.
With such history behind them, Ashgold chasing just their fourth SWAG Cup and Hearts seeking to gain their eighth, Sunday’s edition of the SIC-sponsored Nyemitei Cup could be the most appealing tie in the Cup’s history.
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