Ghana FA Cup: Heart of Lions target dominance over new rivals Hohoe United

The Volta region of Ghana will witness a new football rivalry when Heart of Lions lock horns with newly promoted club, Hohoe United in the MTN FA Cup at the Hohoe Stadium on Thursday.

Heart of Lions who sit second on the Ghana Premier League table with 22 points same as Medeama SC, are away to Hohoe United in the round of 64 fixture with a spot for round 32 up for grabs.

Hohoe United are 15th on the league table with 11 points, the same as Dreams fc and Berekum Chelsea. Both clubs will fancy qualification into the round of 32 but Heart of Lions look like the club that needs it the most, according to Communications Director Eric Eli Edzi.

A new rivalry is born in the Volta Region of Ghana

“It’s a derby game and this is going to be the first competitive game between the two teams aside from a couple of friendly matches that we have played,” Eric Eli Edzi told Radio Gold.

“So the whole Volta Region is bracing themselves for that game [and] Heart of Lions we are having a good form in the season [but] you know derby matches do not follow any fine form, it does not follow any pattern of football.

“They are the ones hosting us so I’m very sure they will come very hard at us to win that bragging right. Aside from football there are traditional rivalry, there is also regional dominance because people believe that Hohoe United are the new boys in the region and they are the toast of the region.

“Heart of Lions we believe that we are the elderly ones and we have to maintain the dominance in the region so a lot will be going into that game on Thursday even before our match day 17 of the Ghana Premier League.”

Winners of the MTN FA Cup qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup, a competition that has Hearts of Oak as the only Ghanaian club to have won it in 2004.

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