We brought you the review of all the Premier League matches on the opening day, now we bring you the reactions from the protagonists themselves. Player and coaches have reacted to their side's game....

DAVID DUNCAN BEMOANS POOR FINISHING OF HIS SIDE

"I think it was a game of two halves, the first half apparently belonged to WAFA but I thought we came back strongly after those forced changes even though we did not expect it to be part of the scripts. A team that is one goal up will vary their style but it was clear we were the better side in the second half. I just can’t fathom how their goals came. Their difference between their two goal margin and ours was that they took their chances. We had the better chances as far as the 90 minutes of soccer is concerned. So in the game of football if you don’t take your chances, you are punished. We are already battling a number of injuries to our first team players and for a match of this magnitude to make two forced substitiutions will be a blow to any a good team.I am happy we were able to conduct ourselves quite creditably."

BUT JOHN KILLA SEES THEM TO BE EXCUSES

"When you lose, you find excuses. I think we had the chances and we deserved the win. The second goal was at the right moment very quick after the first break. But in the first half we already had to score two goals and the we scored the second goal and the second half was good for us and because of the winds they stopped playing a positional game and began to play long balls. They put pressure on our defence and we had to react to it because it was expected. Beating Kotoko on the opening day with our players returning from trials makes me very excited. Duncan has the players and we have the talents but we had to score the third goal to seal the game. I feel very sorry for Felix Annan because had an injury and he had an impressive season for us last year.  But we deserved to win."

FELIX ANNAN IS DISAAPOINTED BUT CONFIDENT THEY CAN OVERTURN POOR START

"We are still on course .It is only the first game of the season. We lost and we are disappointed because we prepared well for this game but this is football sometimes you don’t get what you want. So we will go back and prepare well."

SAMUEL TETTEH IS DELIGHTED WITH GOOD START

"This game was one of our toughest matches in the league and I think we did well and we are excited about the win. Last year we started poorly in our first two games so we were determined to improve on our start. I am training hard to continue with my fine form from last year."

C.K AKUNNOUR IS DISAPPOINTED WITH HIS SIDE’S SECOND HALF DESPITE WIN

"We played and dominated the game in the first half and had chances to score at least two goals. We are very impressed with the first half but not the second and we need to improve. We are a new team and so the inexperience still exists. We are still learning and we will go back to the drawing board and improve on it for our next games. We are not interested in kicking the ball in the air and that’s what we did  in the second half."

 

J.E SARPONG BLAMES OVER CONFIDENCE FOR LOSS

"It is the first game we have lost and this is football, when the expectations are high things are bound to go this way. When you are overconfident, this happens. I think my boys underrated the strength of Dreams FC because they are newcomers and they felt they have been in the system for long. But for me, it is a wakeup call for the team. When this happens, you sit up and see it is not easy to play in the Premier division. It is the first game of the season, when we play, we train and we will learn from experiences. This is a new team, new players have joined. We have players on the injury who will join. It is not lost yet. This is football."

KENI HAPPY WITH DEBUT WIN

"I think today’s game was very difficult, I will respect our opponents. They gave us a difficult time. We did not play as we liked to but I’m very happy with the three points. I’m very happy a lot of our supporters came to watch and this is very positive for our progress.  This is not the way we start this is where we just started and I hope they see a better Hearts of Oak in each game. We came here to win, and we are not here to compete to score seven or ten goals. We just scored enough to win this game so I’m happy."

AND ALEX AKUMEY BELIEVES THE PHOBIANS DESERVED WIN

"Hearts of Oak were the better side on the day and they deserved to win.I’m very happy because we introduced seven new players who haven’t even played the Division One before but they impressed us. The supporters saw it and that gives us hope. We hope to build on this performance to win our next games. When you beat a side twice, they become alert and you can see it in Hearts of Oak’s aggression."

AMOS ADEPA LABELS ERIC BEKOE AS REDUNDANT

"The strength was in defence and midfield. They had so many touches in the buildup phase so we allowed to have all the ball and then we transition quickly. Their attackers were not sharp enough. Eric Bekoe and Samuel Afful had an off day. Football is about if you know the player, find a way to stop them and tactically we stooped them. Bekoe had such an off day I didn’t realize when he was substituted. The three goals were even a gift."

AND BASH HAILS HIS TACTICAL ADJUSTMENT

"We saw them play and we studied them very well and we fought harder than last two weeks. In the second half, I brought in two players and that changed the game. It is all about studying your opponents and countering their threats."

        
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