Kumasi Asante Kotoko maintained their position at the summit of the Ghana Premier League after being held to a 1-1 draw by Heart of Lions at the Kpando Sports Stadium in Round 26 of the ongoing campaign.
It was a high-stakes clash with title implications, and it lived up to the billing as both sides showed their hunger in a fiercely contested encounter.
Kotoko struck first, with midfielder Justice Blay scoring in first-half stoppage time (45+4′) to give the Porcupine Warriors a narrow lead heading into the break.
But the home side came out firing in the second half. Just two minutes after the restart, substitute Ali Fuseini leveled the score with a sharp finish in the 47th minute. The equalizer breathed new life into the contest, with both teams pushing for a winner.
Despite late efforts, including another substitution by Lions in the 58th minute as Quansah came on for Sakyi, neither side could find the decisive goal.
The result means Kotoko remain top of the league table with 46 points after 25 matches, having now scored 27 and conceded 15 goals. Heart of Lions sit third with 41 points, five behind Kotoko, but just two adrift of second-placed Bibiani Gold Stars.
The draw also extends Heart of Lions’ impressive record against Kotoko, with the Porcupine Warriors managing just one win in their last six meetings, a statistic that underlines the difficulty of this fixture for the league leaders.