GPL 2022: Title race not over for Hearts of Oak – Boadu insists

Samuel Boadu is in no mood to throw in the towel on the Ghana Premier League (GPL) title defence for Accra Hearts of Oak despite guiding the holders to their latest defeat in the current league campaign on Sunday after at Aduana Stars.

Boadu supervised over Hearts of Oak’s 1-0 defeat to Dormaa based Aduana Stars in the match day 20 fixture of the GPL on Sunday, leaving the defending champions way behind current league leaders Asante Kotoko, who are on 44 points following a 5-0 annihilation of Bibiani Gold Stars on Sunday evening.

Hearts of Oak currently sit 6th in the league log with 29 points, trailing their arch-rivals Asante Kotoko by 15 points, meaning, the Porcupine Warriors ought to lose 5 more matches while the Phobians win all 5 matches of theirs to be able to draw level on the league log.

Speaking after their fifth defeat in the season, their fourth on the road, Samuel Boadu rejected claims that the title race is over for Hearts of Oak, saying the race is not over yet.

“No, it’s not yet over. This is football, you could see that the boys they did well, they played well, but it’s quiet unfortunate that we got the first chance to score and we didn’t score”, he told StarTimes.

Describing Sam Adams’ lone strike that sank the Phobians, Boadu maintains that it wasn’t out of a clear cut scoring chance but Aduana Stars just made good use of the little opportunity to punish Hearts of Oak. He however praised his players for a good work done, having fought harder after losing first choice goalkeeper Richard Atta to a 32nd minute injury in search for a leveler.

“The goal that they scored is not a chance that they got but they punished us. But the boys tried to fight so we could cancel the goal but it’s quiet unfortunate we couldn’t get it that way”, he said.