Accra Lions Technical Director, Ibrahim Tanko says his outfit showed Hearts of Oak too much respect in their Ghana Premier League defeat on Friday.
The Accra-based side suffered a 3-0 loss on match week 26 at the Accra Sports stadium - their 11th defeat of the season after 26 matches played so far.
A brace from Daniel Afriyie Barnieh and a goal from Isaac Agyenim Boateng propelled the Phobians to secure all three points.
"It’s very unfortunate we started very well and after ten minutes our players just drew back which was not good," Tanko said after the game.
"I think my players gave Hearts of Oak a lot of respect which wasn't supposed to be happening. They played the first round, saw how the league is so I expected them to play more and shouldn't respect anyone on the pitch. It's very unfortunate that we lost but we will go back and prepare for the next match."
He added, "And also the red card that we received, it was very stupid from our players excuse me to say. So that’s what changed the game."
Accra Lions are currently 11th on the league standings with 33 points. They will take on RTU on match week 27 of the Ghana Premier League.