Newly appointed Hearts of Oak head coach Kosta Papic will begin his job as technical head of the Phobians on Friday against Karela United who are unbeaten in two league games against the club of Togbe Afede XIV.
Karela recorded a big win over the Phobians ( 3-1 in Anyinase) in the 2018 Ghana Premier League season – eventually cancelled due to the Anas expose on June 6th that year. Karela then coached by Johnson Smith – now Asante Kotoko assistant coach – were too much for Hearts of Oak on 18 April 2018 as William Opoku Mensah scored an impressive hat trick after Daniel Kordie had given an early lead to the visiting Phobians.
In the 2019/20 league season, Karela visited Hearts of Oak at the Accra sports stadium on 19 February 2020 and left with a point following a 0-0 stalemate.
Indeed Hearts of Oak have managed just a win over their Friday opponents and that victory came in the GFA Normalisation Cup competition as Christopher Bonney converted a 74th minute penalty to help the team of Kim Grant win 1-0. Even in that same Special competition, Karela United got their revenge by winning the reverse fixture in Anyinase 1-0 thanks to a lone goal from Solomon Sarfo Taylor.
Everything points to the fact that the Friday encounter between the two sides promises to be an interesting one as Hearts of Oak are yet to record a win in the current campaign whilst Karela United are unbeaten in three games having beaten Inter Allies and Dreams FC after drawing at Ashantigold on opening day of the season.
