Easy Home win puts Protectors on top
Gary Koh
info@sleague.com
Home United strengthened their chances of qualifying for the last 16 after they made light work of Club Valencia of Maldives 5-1 in their AFC Cup Group H match at Jalan Besar on Tuesday evening.
They moved to the top of their pool and eliminated their opponents from the competition after Thai champions Provincial Electrical Authority were held by Vietnamese side Binh Duong 1-1 in the other group game.
A brace from Kengne Ludovick and goals from Firdaus Idros, Peres de Oliveira and Juma'at Jantan put the Protectors in the driving seat while Marcelin Nkemi replied for the visitors.
Home went into the game without the services of skipper S Subramani, Ismail Yunos, Shahril Ishak and Norikazu Murakami while Valencia were without Jameel Mohamed.
Despite missing their key players, the Protectors needed only three minutes to break the visitors' resistance. Firdaus volleyed in the rebound after Fadzuhasny Juraimi's earlier effort hit the crossbar.
They piled further misery four minutes later when Brazilian attacking midfielder Oliveira outjumped his marker and headed home a Juma'at cross on the left.
They had to wait until the 23rd minute to make the score 3-0. Oliveira turned provider as he took advantage of the vast space on the left to break away and lay up for Cameroonian forward Ludovick to slam home.
The Protectors virtually sealed the points by half-time when Juma'at tapped home at close range to make it 4-0 after the Valencia defence made a mess of Oliveira's low cross on the goalline.
With a commanding lead, the hosts took their focus off the game and allowed the Maldivians to come at them in the second half.
They were let off five minutes after the restart when Shahril Alias cleared the danger on the goal line after goalkeeper Ridzuan Fatah Hasan flapped while challenging for an aerial ball.
Valencia made the hosts pay for their complacency when their Cameroonian forward Marcelin Nkemi stabbed home off a Yameen Ibrahim pass in the 64th minute.
The goal conceded shook the Protectors into action as they raided the Valencia half in their attempt to restore their four-goal cushion.
Their efforts paid off when Ludovick headed home his second of the night off a Fadzuhasny assist 12 minutes from time to make it 5-1.
Home coach P N Sivaji was pleased with the attacking approach he had been advocating finally paid off in the first half.
“Previously it was either the goalkeeper who saved or the post and crossbar that denied us when we tried to score,” he said.
“Thus it was good that we managed to score early within the first few minutes.
“Together with the dominance we had in the first half, the boys grew in confidence and began to play football in abandon.”
The former national coach was, however, dissatisfied with the sloppiness his side put up after the break and felt the goal they conceded was a timely wake-up call.
“We looked tired in the second half and began to make casual mistakes in the second half,” he acknowledged.
“Our opponents also came out strongly with nothing to lose after the first half and gave us 20 minutes of pressure to us.
“We only got back into our usual passing and movement game after we allowed that goal.
“When we were dominant, we should not have allowed our opponents to come back and live to fight another day. That is our main lesson for us.”
His Valencia counterpart Jozsef Dzurjak lamented how his side collapsed in the first 45 minutes and allowed Home to seize control towards victory.
“I am not happy with how we played today,” said the Hungarian. “Home United were clearly a much better team tonight and we went to sleep within the first five minutes to allow them to score.
“My best defender (Jameel) was unavailable tonight and my team were sorely missing his experience.
“We were a very young team and did not have much international experience. Some of them were afraid today, unlike what I saw in previous games.”
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