Accra Hearts of Oak suffer narrow defeat to Meteors in preseason friendly

Accra Hearts of Oak suffered a 1-0 defeat to the national U-23 side the Black Meteors in a preseason friendly on Wednesday at the Accra sports stadium.

Black Meteors have been preparing for their final Africa U-23 Nations Cup qualifier against Algeria and coach Ibrahim Tanko put his side to test when they faced coach Kim Grant’s Hearts of Oak at the Accra sports stadium and ended with a slim 1-0 win, thanks to Akese Akese’s sublime finish.

Both sides produced a resolute defensive approach in the first half which ended barren after Hearts of Oak’s forward Kofi Kordzi and Meteors sharp shooting striker Akese Akese both missed chances that came their way.

The phobians started the second half with much aggression, pressing hard to break the deadlock but all efforts fell on rocks as Meteors intensified in attack.

The pressing efforts from the Meteors attack finally paid off when Nzema Kotoko striker Akese Akese pounced on a loose ball in the midfield, went round helpless goalkeeper Ben Mensah before slotting the ball home, a goal in the 67th minute which eventually became the match winner.

Akese Akese was replaced with Kwame Poku few minutes after putting his side in front as both sides made several changes later with Hearts of Oak pressing for the equalizer which they never found.