Accra Hearts of Oak coach, Samuel Boadu blamed fatigue for the poor showing of his side despite winning the MTN FA Cup competition on Sunday.
According to the double-winning coach, the Phobians could have won within 90 minutes against Obuasi AshantiGold but were stretched to extra time because a number of the players were fatigued.
The Phobians capped an eventful season on Sunday after beating the Miners 8-7 on penalties to add the FA Cup to their Ghana Premier League success.
Speaking to the media after winning the trophy, Coach Boadu described the game as a very difficult one with an element of a cup final.
“A number of my boys were camped with the national teams for days for which reason they could not train with the team.”
“That disrupted our plans for the game. And in their bid to cement a place, they had to fight harder. All of these contributed to affect us but I still thank God we survived to win the title for our fans.”
According to him, both teams approached the game tactically and disciplined, and sold out a good final which everybody enjoyed.
That notwithstanding, he said, the determination and hard work of the players paid.
He said“my aim was to win the cup and not play a beautiful game. What we wanted to achieve was to win the competition and we did that exactly.”
He was tight-lipped on his new acquisitions as they head into the CAF Champions League, but stated his team would be ready for the Africa challenge.
Meanwhile, Head Coach of AshantiGold, Thomas Duah has hailed his players’ efforts despite losing via penalty shootout.
The game proceeded to penalties where the Miners failed to capitalize on a lead to clinch the trophy as Richard Attah made a fine save to keep the Phobians in the game.
As the keepers took their turn, Richard Attah scored with a powerful strike but Ashgold’s goalkeeper, Kofi Mensah was unsuccessful as he missed his kick.
Speaking after the game, coach Thomas Duah revealed that their misses came from his best penalty takers.
According to him, his players put up a good performance against the Phobians but God had different intentions.
The coach said, “It’s the doing of God. Anyone who watched the match saw the effort we put in, but Hearts had the chance.”
He added, “We worked on our penalty takes. In fact, our best penalty shooters missed, so this goes to tell you that in life anything can happen.”
RAYMOND ACKUMEY
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