Techiman City President Charles Kojo Ntim has made a stunning claim that in-form Hearts of Oak may be guilty of taking some banned substances.

Doping has taken center stage across the world of sport in recent months and the Ghana Premier League is not about to be left out. With Hearts losing for the first time in six games this weekend, the man popularly called 'Micky Charles' is suspicious of the Phobians sudden turnaround from mediocrity to game winners.

Hearts were nearly relegated last season and needed a scrappy last gap charge to get out of ignominy, leading to the sacking of Herbert Addo and his eventual stop-gap successor Eddie Ansah. But with the appointment of Japanese-American Kenichi Yatsuhashi, the team have charged out of the blocks this season.

And ahead of this weekend's meeting with the Phobians, the Techiman City boss is not taking chances. “Article 36 of the GFA regulations talks about doping, and I want the FA to test them (Hearts of Oak) before Sunday’s game in Techiman,” he said on Monday.

“I suspect them and so the FA must put in place measures to test them before the game,” he stressed.

Sources close to Techiman City say they do not believe the turnaround in output being witnessed in Hearts team is normal, suggesting that some performance-enhancing drugs may be at play. The Phobians' style so far has been characterised by functional football and average skill.

However, a key element of their winning strategy has been the ability to physically out-do opponents especially in the final quarter of games. This led to a flurry goals in the second half of games, which has been widely attributed to good physical conditioning.

The Phobians have copped 13 points after six matches and are second on the log.

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