Kotoko Coach Bashiru Hayford has charged his team to up their game and put in more effort in their build up to their the Top 4 clash with archrivals Accra Hearts of Oak.
Coach Bash has blamed player apathy which he reckons has been the bane of his team. "Some of the players are lackluster during training and until they show enough commitment the club won't improve," the All Sports newspaper quotes him as saying.
Only last Sunday Kotoko drew goalless with Arsenals to kick-start their TOP 4 campaign at the Sunyani Coronation Park.
Kotoko who are bent on appeasing their fans after finishing a disappointing third in the league and therefore failed to pick a Champion's League slot needed a win but they fluffed it. Not even the return of their inspirational captain Edmund Owusu Ansah could secure victory for the Porcupine Warriors.
But Coach Bash dwells on the positive and feels the team is gradually shaping up after a hectic weekend for his boys. Kotoko prior to the Arsenals game had played former African Champion's Enyimba in a friendly game in Nigeria and had to raise a second string team to face Arsenals.
Bash feels the six day break before he plays the next game in the competition is a good one because it will afford his lads enough time to be prepared mentally, physically and spiritually. "I am very pleased with the duration of the next game, my boys will be toughened up for it, we know playing Hearts has never been easy but I hope things will change this time."
The draw with Arsenals indeed was not the best results the rank and file of the team expected. "We were expecting a win at all cost, but it did not happen, they gave their all. We have to go back and re-strategise to beat Hearts in our next game," an official said.
Kotoko engage Hearts at the Cape Coast Park this weekend and already the pressure cooker is heating up in both camps. Kotoko are bent on avenging their defeats to Hearts at the just ended league.
They lost 0-1 and 3-1 respectively at both halves of the league. It's indeed revenge time for the Porcupine Warriors who will stop at nothing to restore their deflated ego.
Hearts on the other hand could seek domination over Kotoko and with good old Ishmael Addo in their fold, the Phobians could have an edge over Kotoko.
