Accra Hearts of Oak have been held to a scoreless draw at the Accra sports stadium by Bechem United in their Ghana Premier League (GPL) match week 11 encounter on Sunday afternoon.
The defending league champions have just made a return to the Accra Sports stadium for the first time since Sunday, November 28, when they hosted and beat Algerian side J.S Saoura in the 1st leg of the CAF Confederation Cup play offs. Since their exit from the CAF inter club competitions, the Phobians had won three, drawn one and lost one in their last five premier league matches, with their last victory coming up against Berekum Chelsea in Cape Coast.
Prior to the game on Sunday, Bechem United were 4 points above Hearts of Oak, and the Phobians were highly optimistic of stopping the Hunters in the Capital to shoot themselves up into a probable title contention position, but have been denied.
The visitors started the match with intense energy with a clear intention of finding the opener, but proved wasteful in front of goal, finishing the game with goalless scoreline. Bechem United made Hearts of Oak goalkeeper Richmond Ayi very busy in post, but his excellent reflexes saved his side with conceding at their own backyard.
In the 41st minute of the first half, Hearts of Oak skipper Fatawu Mohammed missed a begging chance as he had a miss kick of the ball with his weaker left foot. Efforts from both sides to score proved futile as refree Akubiem Jones blew for half time after 3 minutes of added time.
After the recess, coach Samuel Boadu introduced Kojo Obeng Junior, Suraj Seidu, Salim Adams and Yaw Amankwah Baafi all in efforts to break the deadlock but it wasn’t meant to be. Bechem United followed suit with the introduction of the likes of Emmanuel Avornyo who came in to replace Obuoba Dasi but no goal could be scored.
The results on Sunday has left Hearts of Oak at the 9th position on the league log with 14 points, while Bechem United sit 4th with 18 points, 5 points behind leaders Asante Kotoko.
