Zaytuna upsets Lions

Zaytuna FC managed a 1-0 win over visiting Kpando Heart of Lions amidst crowd violence at the EI-Wak Stadium in Accra in their outstanding Onetouch Premier League match yesterday.

The only goal of the game came in the 84th minute through Daniel Larbi whose feeble strike beat goalkeeper Stephen Ahorlu in post for Lions.

Though the game was poorly patronised, the handful of fans took advantage of the absence of security personnel at the stadium to engage in a free-for-all fight.

The misunderstanding began during a confrontation when fans of Zaytuna pounced on another fan for allegedly identifying himself as a supporter of Heart of Lions.

He was severely beaten by the fans of Zaytuna with plywood and sticks until he managed to scale the inner perimeter fence to seek refuge on the team's bench. He was later rushed to the hospital.

Drama unfolded in the 71st minute when the referee, Ali Musa Plato, halted the game for well over two minutes to confer with his assistant referee and the match commissioner as to whether a yellow card he showed Michael Offei of Zaytuna was indeed his second bookable offence before finally showing him the red card.

Zaytuna were not perturbed by their numerical disadvantage and fought on till they found the winning goal.

The goal changed the pattern of play of the visitors as they began mounting pressure on the home team in search of the equaliser, but the defence of Zaytuna absorbed the pressure until in the 87th minute when Hans Kofie of Lions, who came on for barely two minutes was shown the red card for stamping an opponent.

Zaytuna defended the only goal by taking out their strikers in place of defenders to defend the goal until the end.

With a few minutes to the end of the game, macho men suddenly invaded the stadium to confront the Zaytuna fans, but the two military personnel present intervened to avert what would have been bloodier until uniformed policemen finally arrived to keep the situation under control.

The tension did not end even after the match as officials of Zaytuna claimed they were attacked by the Chairman of Lions, for which an official complaint was lodged at the Cantonments Police Station.