Hearts of Oak beat Hasaacas 1-0 at the Essipong Sports Stadium on match day 19 of the 2016 Ghana Premier League on Sunday. The win thus take the Phobians to the top of the log sheet with 34 points.
Sergio Traguil's side needed a second half strike from Cosmos Dauda to win the bragging right over struggling Hasaacas.
Hasaacas who needed the points badly was the impressive side in the opening 15 minutes as the Phobians kept their composure doing all the defending.
With the Hasmal lads failing to make their possession count on the score-sheet, the Accra giants came into the game strongly as they pushed the home side back. In the 24 minute, the away side nearly fetched the first goal as Cosmos Dauda blocked Paul Acquah’s strike at goal.
Six minutes later Samuel Afful also came close to scoring the opener for the home side but the player’s bicycle kick flew over the bar. Hasaacas tamed the Phobians in the middle of the field and with 10 minutes to end the first half, Soulama Abdoulaye made a world class save to deny Eric Bekoe - the rebound by Samuel Afful was blocked on the line by Inusah Musah.
The Phobians also launched a sweet attack as Paul Acuqah put Patrick Razak on goal but experienced shot stopper for Hasaacas George Owu came to the rescue of Yusif Basigi’s side.
On the stroke of half time Isaac Mensah failed to put the rainbow boys into the lead after he shot wide following an error by Daniel Egyin.
It was an end-to-end action in the second half as both sides threw a lot of bodies upfront in search of the opener – Hasaacas were the first to initiate the first attack in the second half of the game as Samuel Afful drove through the Phobians defense but Inusah Musah cleared his cut-back pass.
The away side then attacked again, this time Eric Bekoe's low shot bounced awkwardly infront of Soulama Abdoulaye who had already gone to the ground but the ball went over.
The Phobians then improved their performance and in the 59th minute, Cosmos Dauda with an audacious back heel scored the first goal for the Phobians. The goal was Dauda’s eight goal in the ongoing campaign.
Seven minutes later, Albert Gaisie nearly fetched the equalizer for the home side after he rattled the cross bar from 25 yards. The Hasmal lads bombarded the away side with a lot of attacks but they failed to score.
With 13 minutes left on the clock, Hearts of Oak who had already exhausted all their substitution were forced to play with ten men after Cosmos Dauda picked up a foot injury.
But Hasaacas failed to take advantage of the Phobians numerical disadvantage as the away side defended their solitary lead to win the game.