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Hearts, Oly ease relegation fears  …with wins over Nations FC, Kotoko

• Nations FC’s Victor Oduro tries to outwit Kassim Cisse of Hearts in their 32nd week GPL match Photo: Raymond Ackumey

 Accra Hearts of Oak and Great Olympics over the weekend recorded important wins to boost their relega­tion survival in the Ghana Premier League (GPL).

The Phobians chalked a 2-0 victory over Nations FC on Friday melbet mobile app download while Olympics recorded a hard fought 1-0 victory over Asante Ko­toko to climax a weekend of Accra dominance over Ashanti region.

With the relegation fears becom­ing more of a reality, the Phobians needed two first half goals to calm the nerves of their followers.

The club’s top scorer, Hamza Issah,broke the deadlock as early as the seventh minute when he con­nect a cross from DennisKorsah.

That affected the confidence of the Phobians who pushed more men forward in search of more goals.

On the 15th minute, they doubled the lead through Ivorian interna­tional,KassimCisse,who was fed byLinda Mtange.

That win may have piled pressure on Olympics as they fought gamely to emerge 1-0 victors in their match day 32 game played at the Dr Kwame Kyei Sports Complex yesterday, with Raymond OkoGrip­pman scoring the only goal of the match with a header.

Kotoko had the better of the exchanges from the beginning, stringing passes beautifully to open the Olympics rear but failed to find hit man Steven Mukwala.

But Olympics came on strongly as defender Sekyere sometimes abandoned his defensive play to support RazakKasim in midfield.

Kotoko was presented with the first decent chance to have a ‘smell’ at goal after they were presented with a penalty after a Kotoko attack­er was brought down in the goal area.

However, Mukwala, who has been near excellent from the spot failed to score.

With Enoch Morrison and Jus­tice Blay at the pivot of Kotoko’s midfield, they continued to dictate the pace with Olympics looking for opportunities through the counter attacks.

Olympics stunned their host in the 43rd minute when defender Raymond OkoGrippmanoutjumped his markers to head home Matthew Abayase’sfree kick near the corner flag to end the half as leaders.

Kotoko started the second half very aggressive, pushing and heckling the Olympics players with Enock Morrison lucky to escape a second booking after bringing down Albert Amoah in the 50th minute.

Failing to penetrate the Oly defence, Kotoko resorted to long drives, a strategy that suited An­drews Ntim whose long drive in the 52nd minute nearly beat Benjamin Asare in post for Olympics.

Benjamin Asare came to Oly’s rescue again in the 69th minute when he dived to save a shot from Kotoko’s winger Acquah during one of Kotoko’s forays.

 Oly remained in the danger zone after the win and would need a win against Dreams FC in an outstanding game midweek to breathe life into the campaign.

Bechem United recorded a nar­row 1-0 win over Aduana FC to move closer to the top-four zone in the Bono derby on Saturday in their Ghana Premier League (GPL) match day 32 game.

Emmanuel Owusu’s 77th min­ute strike separated the two teams at the Nana FosuGyeabourPark in Bechem.

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