Spectators `arrest` police…After Tema Youth subdue Hearts

Some disgruntled fans of Accra Hearts of Oak held a sizable number of police personnel and the referees that officiated the Hearts-Tema Youth Glo Premier league midweek thriller hostage at the Tema Stadium.

And for close to 49minutes after the match, which ended 2-1 in favour of Tema Youth, the Phobian fans had besieged the Stadium threatening to vent their anger on the game officials.

To the fuming Hearts supporters, Aflao-based Solomon Modey, who was at the centre and his lieutenants, had performed below average, leading to the defeat of their darling club.

The police, numbering close to hundred, together with the officiating officials, had to wait on the synthetic pitch after the game for their own safety, until a plan they finally came up with an idea that the officials change their refereeing uniform to outwit the massing fans.

The fans, noticing the ploy became more incensed. Eventually, the police resorted to the firing of tear gas to ward off the fans.

This helped the police to close the main gate, but the fans grew wilder and threw stones over the wall into the stadium, with some banging on cars parked in the Stadium.

The police then fired more tear gas and chased the rowdy fans out of the Stadium premises before sanity eventually prevailed.

This Reporter can confirm that the officiating officials really faltered on some decisions, a view held by a majority of the spectators at the Tema stadium, however, the fans had no business threatening the lives of the referees and the security personnel.

An official, who wants to remain anonymous, argued that he detected some flaws during the course of the game which he attributed to the long break of the Glo premier league.

The last time Hearts visited the Tema Stadium, the then head coach Eyal Lachman, had to exit the Stadium using one of the emergency gates under heavy security personnel for fear of his life.

Meanwhile, five Hearts of Oak players, namely Charles Taylor, Francis Bossman, Elvis Acheampong, Anas Mohamed and Esme Mends fell unconscious during the course of the game and had to be rushed to the hospital.