On the 17th matchday of Ghana Premier League we saw some intersting games and also suprising wins. We have a look on some of last weekend’s games and especially on how those game ran and which team was dominant.
Hearts Of Oak celebrate clear victory
After the 0-0 derby at Asante Kotoko, Hearts of Oak were forced to win against the West African Football Academy in order not to lose touch with the top. The team with the best form in the league did not show any weaknesses and defeated WAFA confidently at home.
The success of the 20-time champion was favored by an early red card for Ibrahim Abukari. After half an hour, Patrick Razak made it 1-0 in the first big pressure phase of the hosts, with which it also went into the break.
The resistance of the guests was broken and the favorite made it 3-0 through Ocouka Raddy Hokemba and also scored the fourth goal in stoppage time through Michelle Sarpong.
Hearts of Oak could have won the game even higher due to the strong second half, but with the clear 4-0 win they already did enough for a better goal difference in the title race.
Great Olympics celebrate another surprise victory
The Great Olympics went into the away game against Dreams as an underdog. Dreams could have decided the game in the first half, but a period of pressure towards the end of the first half was not taken countable advantage of. The Great Olympics got off to a perfect start in the second half and took the lead after 49 minutes through Thomas Darlington.
An open game developed that was different from the first half, which was clearly in favor of the home team. Dreams was the slightly better team for much of the second half, but the Great Olympics were able to provide more relief through their offense.
Even though the home team ended up with 14 corners and 63% possession, it was only enough to take two shots. Of course you can't win a game like that and so it was the surprising 1-0 away win that held the Great Olympics in second place in the table.
After the 1-0 defeat at the Elmina Sharks, Asante Kotoko has been without a win for four games. This is mainly due to the team's poor offensive performance, as the Porcupine Warriors only scored one goal in these last four games.
This time too, Kotoko could hardly build up any pressure and had practically no phase in which they were the better team over a longer period and played their opponents against the wall.
Although Kotoko shot four times on goal and another seven times off target and also had more possession, the 24-time champion, who is now only sixth, never became compelling in their actions.
With a last-minute goal against the Aduana Stars, Karela United was able to defend the lead in the Premier League. At first it looked like Aduana might manage to surprise. After only seven minutes, Bright Adjei put the guests in the lead and for much of the first half they could keep up with the leader.
It wasn't until shortly before the break that Diawisie Taylor equalized and turned the game around. The second half brought small advantages for Karela, but also an intermittent pressure phase for the Aduana Stars, who shot more often on goal and had their chances of getting the lucky punch.
It wasn't until the last minute of the game that the decision was made. Diawisie Taylor's second goal gave Karela a late winner, keeping the team leader of the Premier League ahead of the Great Olympics.
