Accra Hearts of Oak progressed to the round of 16 stage of the Normalisation Committee Tier 2 Special Cup Competition after brushing aside Division One side Uncle T United 4-2 at the Accra Sports Stadium yesterday.
Goals from Enoch Amaglo and George Tei were cancelled out by Joseph Esso, Christopher Bonney, Kwadwo Obeng Jnr and Kofi Kordzi for Hearts of Oak to snatch the round of 16 ticket.
The game which was originally fixed for Wednesday was rescheduled after a heavy downpour rendered the pitch not suitable for play.
The visitors started the game on an aggressive note, visiting vicious tackles on their host, leaving the referee, Charles Benle Bulu with no choice but gave early cautions to the trio of goalkeeper Richard Kotey, defenders Sadat Numo and Abdulai Salifu.
On the 25th minute mark, Amaglo was gifted a goal scoring opportunity but he drew a heroic save from goalkeeper Richmond Ayi in post for the Phobians.
Eight minutes later, skipper Mohammed Abdul Fatawu threatened on the opposite side but his effort missed the upright.
Hearts of Oak lost the duo of Daniel Kordie and Michelle Sarpong through injury with Aminu Mohammed and Obeng Jnr taking their places.
Their inclusion changed the game of the Phobians who dominated for longer periods but found it difficult breaking the rear of the Uncle T boys.
Against the run of play, the Prampram based club took the lead through Amaglo who raced behind the defenders to slot the ball past Ayi in the 42nd minute.
Before the celebration could die down, the Phobians had pulled the equalizer through Joseph Esso who out-jumped his marker to head home from a Bonney cross two minutes after the goal.
The Phobians went up in the 60th minute through a spot kick converted by Bonney after skipper Fatawu was brought down in the box by Salifu.
It took another two minutes for the Prampram youngsters to respond appropriately with the equaliser from the foot of playmaker Tei who beat the backline before slipping it under an onrushing Ayi in post for Hearts.
With the game tied at two all, the visitors resorted to delay tactics as they went down one after the other.
They were, however, forced to abandon those ideas after substitutes Obeng Jnr and Kordzi scored two goals in the 80th and 87th minutes to seal victory.
The Uncle T lads put their all in the last three minutes plus additional time, hoping to score two late goals but Hearts remained resolute in defence and thwarted the efforts of the visitors.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
