Bibiani Gold Stars were on Sunday crowned champions of the 2025 GHALCA Top Four tournament based on a better head-to-head decision over Hearts of Oak, following a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Heart of Lions.
This was after a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time at the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon.
Heart of Lions opened the scoring in the 37th minute through Ali Fawzi and had the Miners holding their breath until the 89th minute when striker Sampson Eduku directed a cross past goalkeeper Lawrence Osei to force the match into a penalty shootout.
Etse Dogli and Lawrence Osei missed for Lions, while Sampson Eduku missed for Gold Stars, with skipper Vincent Atingah Adae scoring the decisive kick to carry the day.
Hearts of Oak ended the competition on a strong note with a 2-0 victory over arch-rivals, Asante Kotoko, with goals coming from Frank Abora Duku in the 5th minute and Emmanuel Amankwah in the 73rd minute, a win that ensured Kotoko finished the tournament with no points from three games.
Per the tournament rules, in the event a match ends in a draw, the penalty kick rule shall be applied to determine the winner, who shall be awarded two points in the match.
Following their 2-2 drawn game in the second game of the tournament, Gold Stars defeated Hearts 5-4 on penalties, thus earning two points from the game.
Although both Gold Stars and Hearts of Oak finished the tournament on 7 points apiece, with Gold Stars winning a game, drawing two and winning two penalty victories, while Hearts won two and lost one via penalties, the superior head-to-head record of Gold Stars over Hearts proved decisive in the final standings.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY