By: David Kyei

Date: 22-11-11

Despite sharing points in a match that many Kotoko fans were expecting  a win over  close rivals Hearts of Oak, head coach, Maxwell Konadu, says he is content with the results and that his boys did their best under the circumstances.

He says contrary to the assessments by Kotoko fans that Hearts was a bad side he knew Hearts would learn lessons from their recent chain of defeats and plug all the loopholes before facing Kotoko.

“That is why I kept pumping into the psychology of the players days before the match that it was a match against Hearts and so nothing was not to be left to chance. I am happy that at the end of it all, we played without complacency and no where in the match did we also underrate them. We kept our composure and played to specific pattern but we were just unlucky to get at least a goal”.

Despite the many frustrating moments that they had from the referee, the players kept their composure. That not withstanding, Coach Maxwell says Referee Awal Mohamed could have done better than he did on that day.

“In my candid opinion, the referees did not protect my players, yet he took delight in punishing them by awarding infringements against us for the slight manly challenge my players did. There were instances when my players were cynically tackled from behind and yet he kept a blind eye on those tackles.

“He also issued some cards to my players and I wondered if the man was watching a different match other than the one we were playing. Despite all this, I am excited that my players have fully grabbed the concept of mental toughness and so by that character, the referee’s schemes and tricks could not in any way affect us”.

The team played well and so the fans were looking for an opportunity to celebrate a goal which never came. You could see that the fans were somewhat disappointed.

“It is unfortunate that we could not score, but I want them to celebrate that we are still unbeaten in seven matches and are still on top. This is worth celebrating. I promised before the match to make the fans happy and I am sure that being on top should make them happy,” he added.

Kotoko play Wassaman United in the next match at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday and Coach Maxwell says there will not be mistakes and no one is going to underrate them.

“Wassaman came to the premier league on merit and they have posed problems so far. We cannot underrate them. It is three points a match and we are going to work hard for it”.