Hearts of Oak defeat still hurting us – Mariano Barreto

Head coach of Asante Kotoko Mariano Barreto has disclosed the defeat against arch-rivals Hearts of Oak in the decider is still in the minds of his players reason they failed to win against King Faisal.

The ‘Insha Allah’ lads nearly caused an upset after holding giants Asante Kotoko to a 1-1 stalemate at the Len Clay Stadium in an epic week 32 tie. The visitors scored first through sensational youngster Zubairu Ibrahim but his lead was cancelled by substitute Andy Kumi Francis in the dying embers of the game to split the points. In a post match interview, the Portuguese gaffer revealed his boys are still affected by Heart’s defeat but stated he will get them psyched up going forward to deduce the best out of them in the remaining two matches. He said;  “I told you that after the Hearts result, it was difficult, now it’s harder and of course this gives more confidence for Hearts but now we have to be worried with ourselves not with Hearts because we have two matches and these two matches we have to try to win the last two matches because we have to finish according to how we want to finish.” “Not because we lost to Hearts so we have to give up because the fans don’t deserve and also the players.” Baretto said. The Porcupine Warriors are gradually losing the league having failed to pick maximum points in their last two games leaving them 2nd on the league log with 57 points. Asante Kotoko will now travel to the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park to play Bechem United in the next round of games of the Ghana Premier League.

Source: kickgh.com