Kotoko lift 2017 FA Cup

Kotoko add the MTN FA Cup to the 2017 President’s Cup[/caption] Asante Kotoko beat arch-rivals Hearts of Oak 3-1 on Sunday to lift the 2017 MTN FA Cup. The match dubbed ‘Unmissable’ was played at the Tamale Sports Stadium to climax the domestic season of association football. Saddick Adams scored all the goals for the Porcupine Warriors in the first half while Thomas Abbey got the consolation for the Phobians in the second half. The win hands Kotoko the ticket to represent Ghana in the Caf Confederation Cup next season. Going into the final of Ghana’s biggest club competition, the two sides had record and tradition to protect. Hearts had won the competition 10 times before Sunday, while Kotoko were trailing them with 8. Sadly, a day before the crucial encounter, one of the common denominators of the two sides – Soulama Abdoulaye – who had kept the post for the two clubs while plying his career in Ghana had passed on. A minute’s silence was, therefore, observed in his honour before the start of the game. When the referee blew his whistle for hostilities to begin, the Warriors appeared the hungrier of the two, evidenced by the time they opened the scoring. Adams, a former U-17 star, found the back of the net with just three minutes into the game after being put through by Kwame Boahen. The Ex-Etoile du Sahel striker got two more goals even before the break. But Abbey saved the blushes of the Phobians, who placed third in the just-ended Ghana Premier League. He connected to Fatawu Mohammed’s cross with a glancing header. Unfortunately for the Phobians, it was a revenge of the last meeting between the two sides in the same competition – in 2000 when Hearts were declared winners after a game Kotoko won 4-2. The Accra-based side had protested the fielding of an unqualified player – Joe Debrah – by Kotoko. The trophy for the Reds adds to the President’s Cup title won in July at the expense of Hearts of Oak. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh    ]]>