Liberty through to knockout semi-finals
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 Aug ’99
Accra-based Liberty Professionals sailed smoothly into the semi-finals of this year's ABC/FA knockout competition with a hard won 2-0 victory over Okwawu United at the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday.
Liberty will clash with Accra Hearts of Oak who beat King Faisal 2-1 in their quarterfinal encounter at the Kumasi Sports Stadium later in the competition.
After a scrappy beginning, Liberty shot into the lead in the 23rd minute from a spot kick.
Okwawu's defender Edward Acquaye tripped inside left Anthony Obodei, who was in good position to score from behind for a penalty. The resultant kick was converted by right full back Michael Essien.
Okwawu, lifted their game after that deficit with Johnson Eklu, William Afoakwa and Nii-Aryi Tetteh making things difficult for the Liberty defence.
But just as the mountaineers seemed to have had a better part of the exchanges, disaster struck their camp, as hard-working Vincent Agyeman was shown the red card in the 40th minute.
Agyeman hit Obodei in the face on the blind side of Tarkoradi-based FIFA referee F. K. Mensah but was seen by assistant referee Francis Ankomah who reported the incident resulting in his being marched off the field.
Ironically, that incident never demoralised Okwawu as they continued their raids but gallant goalkeeper Zuinro Louis pulled off some dramatic safes to frustrate them.
Asamoah Dzifa made victory certain for Liberty in the 84th minute when he capitalised on a poor back pass by Acquaye to lob the ball over goalkeeper Joseph Aryeetey.
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Kumasi: Accra Hearts of Oak's prolific scorer Joe Famiyeh struck a minute from the end to give his side a 2-1 victory over King Faisal.
Fameyeh exploited a defensive mix-up in Faisal's goal area and planted the ball in the net.
Until then, Hearts had been subjected to stabbing raids by Faisal, who last Sunday held them to a pulsating goal-less drawn game in their league match at the same venue.
The Hearts predator Fameyeh, who was a torn in the flesh of Faisal threatened the defence in the 12th and 13th minutes but on both occasions he shot wide. He, however, atoned for his mistakes, when he scored in the 18th minute after a hard run.
Faisal accepted the challenge and started probing for the equaliser, which came in the 26th minute when Kwadwo Anane in a solo effort outpaced the Hearts defence to put the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Eben Armah Dida.
Hearts recoiled into their shells after the equaliser allowing their opponents room to operate but they were unable to score.
Faisal put Hearts under pressure on resumption as Nana Frimpong and Kwadwo Anane went all out to score but the Hearts rear-guard of Amankwaah Mireku and Jacob Nettey held them at bay.
Hearts later adopted a strategy of slowing down the game to stem the incessant raids of Faisal, who fired on all cylinders.
When the match seemed destined for a draw and the invocation of the tie-breaking penalty shoot-out, Fameyeh struck in the 89th minute after exploiting the defensive lapse.
GRi…/