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David Duncan is relishing Sunday's challenge at the Accra Stadium as he leads Hearts of Oak into battle against traditional rivals, Asante Kotoko in the Ghana Premier League. The former AshantiGold coach who knows about the rivalry with the champions from his days with the Miners and his first experience last season with the Phobians claims a winning start in the league is a big boost for the next game. Both sides won their opening matches but unlike past season's where they would have warmed themselves into the season, their fixture is this time round scheduled for match-day-2. "It gives us the needed boost especially playing against our arch-rivals on Sunday." said Duncan, after Hearts of Oak defeated New Edubiase 2-0 on Sunday in Bekwai. "We needed that kind of boost going into this game and I think that we have found the right tonic going into this kind of game." Duncan, who has the biggest boots to fill after watching Kotoko win the title last season knows that the outcome of a match against their rivals would simply have an effect on the Phobians' title aspirations come the end of the season. "So it is as important as anybody else could imagine, especially against the backdrop that they also won their game. It sets the stage for a game of two teams whose confidence perhaps is almost at very very high level. "We couldn't have afforded to go into this game with them having won their game and us having drawn or lost." For Duncan, the competitive clash in Accra will present either side with no advantages after they both claimed wins on the opening day. "We are pegged at the same level of confidence. I think perhaps even ours is much higher because we won by 2 goals without reply and they won by 2-1. From that perspective, I think it serves as a very good boost for us," the Hearts of Oak coach said.