Albirex extend winning run at home

Fabius Chen 
info@sleague.com

Albirex Niigata (Singapore) took all three points at home against the Young Lions in a 2-1 win that, more than anything, highlighted both sides’ inability to score.

In a showdown between the league’s two lowest-scoring clubs, it was perhaps no surprise that Thursday’s game at Jurong East Stadium had to be settled from set pieces.

Still licking their wounds after being taken to the woodshed by SAFFC just a week ago, the home side eventually came out on top thanks to first-half goals from Kenji Adachihara and Tetsuya Kishida.

For much of the first 45 minutes, it was a matter of men against boys, with the White Swans constantly half a step quicker than their visitors.

It took them only eight minutes to open the scoring. An outswinging corner from the Albirex left was headed back into the mix by defender Ryota Kobayashi.

Adachihara was the quickest to react, guiding his header past Izwan Mahbud in the Young Lions goal.

The early strike seemed to galvanise the hosts, while the Young Lions struggled to keep up with the pace of the game.

Passes were going astray, defenders were being caught in possession and their attack was limited to hopeful long balls right down the heart of the Albirex defence.

Reflecting on his side’s first-half showing, Young Lions coach Terry Pathmanathan said: “We were a little disorganised, especially in midfield where we kept losing possession.”

Indeed, Albirex could have doubled their advantage on several occasions.

Kunihiro Honda’s lovely through ball found Taisuke Akiyoshi in the box but the midfielder’s first touch was a little heavy, allowing Izwan to rush out and smother the ball.

The Young Lions’ third-choice stopper had to be alert again on the half-hour mark, as Kishida beat a couple of defenders and got ready to pull the trigger, only for Izwan to make the stop.

Kishida refused to be denied, however, as a free-kick just one minute later was floated in towards him.

With his back facing the goal, he produced a deft flick that caught Izwan off-guard and dropped into the corner of the net.

It was a cheeky finish that any forward would have been proud of, not least Young Lions debutant Yang Mu.

The China-born forward produced a quite frankly abject first-half performance, showing little understanding with his new colleagues and losing out on aerial challenges despite towering over the Albirex defenders at 1.91m.

Having said that, Yang was involved in his side’s best chance of the half, although that move ended miserably as well, in a manner that summed up their first-half showing.

Another long ball out of defence found Yang in space. With White Swans goalkeeper Yoshito Matsushita charging out of his box to close Yang down, the ball fell to strike partner Khairul Nizam.

The youngster’s first touch let him down, though, and he was easily dispossessed by a defender, even as Matsushita was desperately trying to recover his position.

Both sides made changes at the break, with Azfar Zainal Abidin replacing the largely-anonymous Arif Aiman for the Young Lions, while Keisuke Ogawa came on for Park Myung Eun in the Albirex midfield.

The second-half started the same way the first had ended, as Albirex came out firing on all cylinders.

Just five minutes after the restart, home side defender Shota Matsuoka’s volley beat Izwan but was cleared off the line by Young Lions’ Obidan Aikhena.

From the resulting corner, substitute Ogawa tested Izwan with a long-range drive that forced a good save out of the visitors’ stopper.

These escapes seemed to be the wake-up call that the Young Lions needed, as they began to boss the game from then on.

A free-kick caused confusion in the Albirex penalty area, with Shahir Hamzah’s effort having to be touched onto his own crossbar by Matsushita.

Their change at half-time seemed to be paying dividends, with Azfar adding some steel to their midfield.

Pathmanathan said of his substitute: “He was more energetic and helped us to harass and pressure the Albirex players.”

Yang, meanwhile, was becoming more involved in the game, dropping deep and trying to create chances for his team-mates.

On 65 minutes, Khairul latched on to Yang’s through ball to beat the onrushing Matsushita, only to wheel around and see the assistant referee flagging for offside.

It vindicated Albirex coach Naoki Naruo’s decision to play with a high back-line, with his keeper often playing the role of sweeper.

“We tried to push up and control our opponents, so it was the goalkeeper’s duty to sweep up any long balls,” he said.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, man-of-the-match Kishida very nearly capped his performance with a second goal but his header from Ogawa’s corner came back off the upright.

There was cause for concern for Young Lions supporters, with their biggest goalscoring threat coming in the form of defender Aikhena.

The Nigerian had come close with a header that landed on top of the net and a drilled free-kick straight at Matsushita before snatching a late consolation goal.

Deep into stoppage time at the end of the game, he got his head to skipper Isa Halim’s corner to score a goal that, on the balance of play in the second half, his side arguably deserved.

It was Aikhena’s third goal of the season and only the Young Lions’ fourth, something his coach was quick to point out after the game.

“It’s quite sad that our top scorer is a defender,” Pathmanathan said, half in jest.

“He is an excellent professional whose contribution has been fantastic but after seven games, our forwards have to buck up.”

Undoubtedly, Yang’s improvement in the second-half was enough to impress his coach.

“He tried his best and contributed with his physical presence, so I’m quite happy with his performance,” the former national team captain commented.

Pathmanathan was left to rue his side’s inabilty to break down the home side’s resistance at a time that would have really mattered.

“In the second half, we were all over them. If we had scored earlier, I think we could have gotten a second goal and maybe even a third,” he mulled.

It was an assessment that opposition coach Naruo might not contend.

“We had a good game in the first half but didn’t give a good performance in the second,” the Albirex coach reflected.

“The Young Lions worked hard and fought hard. We tried to push up and score one more goal but instead, conceded one ourselves.”

When asked if his side’s inability to score from open play was a concern for him, Naruo simply replied, “Yes.”

It was an answer that needed no translation.