Hearts of Oak defeated BA Stars 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium

Hearts of Oak left it late to claim a 1-0 victory over BA Stars in the MTN FA Cup at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Captain Mahatma Otoo fired in a cracking free-kick deep into stoppage-time to dump the Division One Zone 1B leaders out of the competition.

This is a game Hearts dominated from start to finish creating several of chances but BA Stars goalkeeper Kwame Tall Noah was a stumbling .

The shot-stopper stood between the Phobians and a cricket scoreline in the opening 45 minutes especially when midfielder Isaac Baah got sent off for elbowing Hearts striker Joseph Mugre.

Winful Cobbinah, Mahatma Otoo and Emmanuel Osei all come close to scoring but it took the visitors goalkeeper to keep them level in the opening quarter of an hour.

Coach David Duncan was forced to alter his plans and introduce Yakubu Musah to take the place of Mugre who had to receive medical attention after taking an elbow in an aerial challenge.

The change almost yielded results in the 42nd minute when the former Nania FC nimble-footed winger wriggled through the defence before powering a low drive which was just palmed away by Noah.

Tetteh Lugard on the other hand was on holiday as Hearts continued with their dominance and grew from strength to strength in all departments.

Emmanuel Osei, who had been rough throughout the first-half, was sacrificed for Sadat Karim and Duncan shifted tactics to a 3-5-2 formation.

But Hearts blunt up-front until the 94th minute mark when Otoo blasted in a free-kick to put Hearts through to the last 16.