GHANA's Hearts of Oak won the 2004 Confederation Cup final in a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over local rivals Asante Kotoko in Kumasi. The Accra side won 8-7 on penalties after the second leg had ended 1-1 to level the all-Ghanaian tie at 2-2 on aggregate. Michael Donkor was the Hearts hero as he converted the match-winning spot-kick. Charles Taylor had given Kotoko the lead eight minutes into the second half, but Lawrence Adjeh Tetteh found a much-needed equaliser for Hearts in the 81st minute. Kotoko had chances to put the match beyond Hearts' reach shortly after Taylor opened the scoring, but right-back Michael Ofuso-Amoah was unlucky to see his 30-yard strike hit the joint of the crossbar and post. After 67 minutes, Taylor could have wrapped up victory but he fired wide following a mazy dribble through the Hearts defence and the homes side's efforts came to nothing. Hearts coach Cecil Jones Attuquayefio thus adds the Confederation Cup to the Champions League crown he won with the club in 2000. Earlier this year, the Ghanaian coach led Benin in their first African Cup of Nations finals. More than 1,000 police and military personnel were in Kumasi for a match watched by Issa Hayatou, the president of the Confederation of African Football, and which earned Hearts $362,500. The all-Ghanaian final had been postponed from December since the two-legged tie would have clashed with last month's presidential elections in the West African nation. Hearts will now meet African champions Enyimba of Nigeria in the annual African Super Cup match over the weekend of 18-20 February at a Nigerian venue yet to be announced.
