Those who believed strongly that the Kumasi Asante Kotoko- Accra Hearts of Oak duopoly of the Ghana premier league would end this season are now beginning to revise their notes. The two veteran campaigners who had been stuttering all along during the first round have made a dramatic recovery in the second session and are giving the pacesetters a good chase.

With ten more matches to go, Hearts (32) and Kotoko (30) are third and fourth respectively behind leaders Aduana Stars (36) and Ashgold (35). Hearts’ brilliant 3-2 away victory over Eleven Wise in Sekondi and Kotoko’s 2-0 home win over  New Edubiase shot them to their respective enviable positions on the league ladder to be among the proverbial “top four”.

This weekend’s 11th week pairings are expected to provide exciting results that may affect placings at the top. Surprise league leaders Aduana Stars are most likely to maintain their unbeaten home record at the expense of unstable Bechem Chelsea but runners up Ashgold face a tough away encounter against Kpando Heart of Lions which may threaten their second spot on the table.

Defending champions Hearts of Oak could move to second spot by beating city rivals Great Olympics if they maintain the form that won them maximum points at the expense of Eleven Wise in Sekondi last week. Olympics the reputed “Wonder club” of Ghana football have been quite unstable since their return to the Premiership and they stand the risk of going further down the ladder against the rejuvenated defending champions.

Asante Kotoko, the league’s highest collector of trophies, have by their own high standards played below form this season even though this is enough top place them among the top four. The 21 times league champions could maintain their top four slot with a narrow win over bottom club Hasaacas in Sekondi.

Decades ago this fixture would have been a blockbuster but it looks like both teams have lost their past glamour and not much tension is expected in this encounter. Gone are the days when Hasaacas were the real “Giants of the West” who could stoutly stand Kotoko and on several occasions score some incredible victories. Those glorious days at the legendary Gyandu Park are sadly gone and we are now saddled with pretenders parading as professional footballers with very limited skills to show.  Its quite unfortunate, football fans are being shortchanged these days so don’t be surprised to see a half filled stadium.

The remaining fixtures pairing mainly those in the middle belt and the relegation zone will see King Faisal hosting Eleven Wise in Kumasi; Real Tamale United will also host Berekum Arsenal in Tamale and New Edubiase will also  be home to Wa All Stars.

The last but not the least encounter will feature Liberty Professionals and Kessben at Dansoman a suburb of Accra. Both teams have some faint title hopes and it would be interesting to see how they hope to brighten their championship aspirations.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports but please forgive me for my long, unannounced silence on the blog. It wasn’t because I was trying to figure out the whole brouhaha about Wayne Bridge and John Terry over that “Chelsea lady”, neither was I overjoyed with Rooney’s current smashing form but I was bogged down by a virus in my beloved computer that left me completely paralysed (figuratively speaking).

This is no joke. Computer viruses in my part of the world are very stubborn and they take quite a time to be eradicated.

Anyway I am back and three won’t be any more AWOL. Cheers everyone and keep loving sports.