‘Winning the league will be difficult’

Mariano Barreto, Head Coach of Asante Kotoko, has said overtaking Accra Hearts of Oak in pursuit of the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League title will be very difficult after dropping points against their arch-rivals in the Super Clash.

Daniel Afriyie Barnieh’s solitary strike for Hearts extended their lead at the top of the league table with 59 points, three points off Asante Kotoko who are still second with 56 points with three matches to end the season.

Speaking at a post-match presser after their 1-0 defeat, Coach Barreto admitted that winning this year’s league would be very difficult but said everything was possible in football with three matches remaining.

“It was a very tough match, it was hard-fought, and in the first 45 minutes no team had any clear cut chances to score and my players did very well by creating problems for the Hearts defence.

“We started well in the second half but we made a very big mistake and Hearts scored the goal. We reacted very well and the best chance fell for Augustine Okrah could not score. We are disappointed in the results but this is football and we lost so have to pick the positives from this game and move on.

“Everything is possible because we are left with three matches and of course it will be difficult for Hearts and more difficult for us because we are behind by three points but we won’t give up despite being sad,” he said.

Kotoko would be looking to get back to winning ways next week when they face King Faisal in their match-week 32 encounter in Obuasi.