Hearts match against Africa Sport ends abruptly

Accra, Sept 1, GNA - The international friendly match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Africa Sports of La Cote D'Ivoire played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday ended abruptly in the 63rd minute due to poor visibility.

Hearts were leading 2-1 when the referee whistled to end proceedings to an exciting encounter between the two sides. The start of the match was delayed for almost an hour when the Ivorian officials demanded 25 million cedis as appearance fee from the organiser of the match insisting that they will only play after the money is paid.

It took the organisers and some officials of Hearts some time to assure the Ivorians before the match took place. It was the home team, Hearts who kicked off as the aggressors with the defeat suffered at the hands of the same club some months back on their mind.

The visitors played it hard but Hearts soon started getting the openings and in the 12th minute, Lawrence Adjei broke free on the flank but instead of laying the ball for his colleagues to finish off, he decided to go solo and fired his effort over the bar.

The Ivorian team dominated by players from their academy, fired back and nearly pulled even through a free kick taken by Toure Aboubakar but the kick was well saved by Saani Mohammed in post for Hearts. Hearts opened the scoring in the 28th minute when a brilliant combination between Louis Agyeman and skipper Emmanuel Osei Kuffour freed the latter to out-run the defenders of the visitors before slotting the ball on the blind side of the Ivorian goalkeeper for the leader.

Bernard Don Bortey doubled Hearts lead in the 40th minute when he went past his marker on the run before shooting into the far corner of the net to bring back the smiles on the faces of their vociferous fans. On the stroke of half time, the Ivorians pulled one goal back when Kamara Lasseni beautifully redirected a shot into the Hearts net leaving Saani Mohammed in the post stranded.

Back from the break, Hearts raised the tempo of their game and dominated play especially on the flanks where Prince Tagoe who had earlier come on for Lawrence Adjei created some anxious moments for the visitors but his colleagues failed to capitalise on the chances to increase the lead until the referee's whistle for the abrupt end of the match.