REFEREE AGGREY NEARLY SPOILT DAY AT WA (G/SPORTS. PAGE 16)

STORY: CHRIS NUNOO, WA

The much talked-about premier league match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Wa All Stars lived up to its billing, but with much tension and expectations from both sides.
However, the beauty of the match was nearly marred as Tarkwa-based referee T.K. Aggrey and his men intermittently came up with some contentious decisions which led to his heckling by players of Accra Hearts of Oak when the only goal of the match was scored by Daniel Bomfah in the 72nd minute for Wa All Stars.
That notwithstanding, Hearts of Oak who many thought could make mince meat of the Wa club following the 3-0 defeat they handed All Stars in the first round, coupled with Hearts’ current win over Tema Real Sportive, failed to silence the fans in Wa after travelling all the way from Accra with a special jet to the Upper West region.
Wa All Stars proved to be very tough customers for the champion club to the extent that Hearts’ newly-found Israeli coach could hardly find the brakes to stop the All Stars attacking machine spearheaded by the fast running Issah Saliu, Ishmael Fridos and Daniel Bomfah.
The new-look All Stars side played according to the instructions of coach Emmanuel Quarshie and matched their opponents squarely from the begining of ht match. But when all seemed like the match was heading for an even fight, one of the recently recruited players for All Stars, Daniel Bomfah, did what mattered most by sloting the ball home for the only goal of the match in the 72nd minute; The players of Hearts, led by their skipper Issah Mohammed to protest briefly that the goal was a handball.
Speaking to the Graphic Sports in a post-match interview, an elated coach, Emmanuel Quarshie did not agree with the players of Hearts but commended his boys for a job well done and sounded a word of caution to all visiting teams to the Wa Sports stadium that All Stars were not prepared to relinquish even a single point at their home ground in the second round of the Onetouch Premier League. He appealed to the supporters of the club to exercise patience when the going gets tough and support the team to acheive more feats.