A Patrick Razak goal handed Hearts of Oak a 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Asante Kotoko in the Ghana President’s Cup on Friday.
The winger scored late to win it all after Samuel Boateng cancelled out Daniel Afriyie Barnieh’s opener for the Phobians.
The game, coming barely two weeks after the two teams played out a 0-0 draw in the Premier League, was in honour of Ghana’s sitting president Nana Akufo-Addo.
Former Ghana, AC Milan, and Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari headlined Hearts' first XI, featuring in the cup competition for the first time following his return to domestic football.
Centre-back Mohammed Alhassan and young striker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, both invitees to the Black Stars in recent times, also made the cut.
For Kotoko, their team was led by Cameroonian striker Franck Mbella Etouga, who has taken the GPL by storm and scored 13 goals so far to stand as the league’s current top scorer.
Compatriot Georges Mfegue also earned a spot in Prosper Narteh Ogum’s line-up, but Brazilian playmaker Fabio Gama Dos Santos was left on the bench.
After Etouga drove a shot into the side netting in the 15th minute, Richard Lamptey followed up moments later with a header which went narrowly wide following Mfegue’s cross.
On 31 minutes, Kotoko goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim reacted well to tip Isaac Mensah’s shot over the bar. The shot-stopper would be called into action with a similar save seven minutes later, this time by Muntari’s free-kick.
Six minutes back from recess, Hearts broke the deadlock through Barnieh, who shot low past Danlad to make it 1-0.
Few minutes later, the Phobians almost made it 2-0 but for the goalkeeper’s intervention to keep out Muntari’s dangerous goal-bound corner.
In the 59th minute, Etouga found the back of the net with a header, but the goal was disallowed for a foul in the build-up to the strike.
Kotoko eventually found the equaliser in the 77th minute as Etouga won possession, drove into the box and teed up substitute Boateng who shot into the far bottom corner.
For a moment, the game looked headed for a 1-1 draw in regulation time, but Razak had other plans as he netted in the 89th minute to sting Kotoko at the death and win bragging rights for the reigning GPL champions.