Home strike three to revive league hopes
Gary Koh
info@sleague.com
Home United injected fresh hope into their domestic season as they took apart Sengkang Punggol 3-0 at Clementi on Wednesday evening.
Goals from Peres de Oliveira, Kengne Ludovick and Norikazu Murakami ensured the Protectors maintained their perfect home record and staved off talk of a crisis.
Home coach PN Sivaji gave Firdaus Idros and Oliveira starts, while Syed Fadhil was cleared to play as well after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in the 0-1 defeat to Geylang United three days ago.
In the wake of Sengkang’s 1-7 mauling by SAFFC on the weekend, coach Jorg Steinebrunner rung in several changes in his lineup as well.
Amos Boon made his first start of the season in goal, while skipper Aide Iskandar returned to shore up the Dolphins’ defence. Noh Rahman also featured among the starters after serving out his suspension on Saturday.
Home started the more dangerous of the two sides as they took the game to the visitors from kickoff.
For their dominance in possession, though, they could not penetrate a sea of yellow shirts to threaten Boon for much of the first half.
Their first real chance came after 33 minutes, when Boon acrobatically saved Norikazu Murakami’s header off Oliveira’s cross from the right.
While Home had their opportunities, Sengkang attempted to show their qualities that belied their bottom placing.
With former Protectors star Indra Sahdan Daud the focal point of their attacks, the visitors tried to exploit the gaps between Home’s defence and midfield, but could not find a way past goalkeeper Ridzuan Fatah Hassan.
As the first half seemed destined to end goalless, Home controversially broke the deadlock through Oliveria in injury time.
Home defender Shahril Alias and Sengkang’s Hiroyuki Yamamoto were involved in an aerial duel as they fought for the ball in the centre circle.
With the latter looking the worse post-challenge and sprawling on the pitch, Shahril sent a diagonal long pass onto the path of Oliveira on the right in a swift counter-attack.
The Brazilian beat Dolphins leftback Zahid Ahmad before sending a lob on the edge of the box over Boon and into the net.
As Home were celebrating the opener, Sengkang players fiercely disputed referee P. Pandian over his decision to award the goal, but there was no changing the referee’s decision as he immediately blew the whistle for the interval.
The Dolphins refused to be set back by the contentious decision, however, and came out of the dressing room determined to score the equalizer in the second half.
They came close to an immediate response, as Razali Johari’s effort was caught by Ridzuan after the winger did decently twisting and turning past his markers on the left.
Indra was later denied the opportunity to put one over his former employers, as his direct free kick on the edge of the box was deflected for a corner.
Sengkang paid the price for their inability to conjure a goal, as Home doubled their lead close to the hour mark.
Latching on to a throw-in, Firdaus raced past Zahid on the right to send a low cross for Ludovick to poke beyond Boon’s reach.
Murakami made sure his club secured three points in the 73rd minute, when he received Ludovick’s short pass and launched an unstoppable drive into the top corner of the net.
Indra’s – and Sengkang’s – miserable outing was complete when he had to be substituted two minutes later after pulling his hamstring.
Sivaji was a relieved man at the final whistle, but refused to be carried away following the morale-boosting win.
“While it is good to win, one swallow does not make a summer,” he cautioned.
“I hope this is the turning point for us. We have to take it one game at a time and see how we progress from there.”
He also hailed the significance of Oliveria’s opener, which ensured that Home never looked back on their path to victory, although there were also areas identified for improvement.
“Initially we were too tense in the first half as we were trying too many things,” he admitted.
“For the first goal, I thought Shahril got the ball fairly and we continued playing. It was important that we got the goal at the stroke of half-time as it did wonders to us for the rest of the game.
“I thought we dealt with their attacks well, apart from the period early in the second half where we gave them too much room in defence.
“It should not be the case as we were dominating and in control of the game. Such lapses could have cost us if we were not careful.”
Steinebrunner, on the other hand, offered a different interpretation on what he saw as a key decision from the referee in awarding the first goal.
“Sometimes it gets to a level where major decisions can influence the game,” he fumed.
“Every game, we were working hard and preparing for the game against the opponents we would be facing. We could not take it when the referee tries to determine the outcome of the game with his whistle.
“It was unfair for us to go into the break a goal down as it was clearly a tackle that deserved to be a foul.
“These are the things that make or break the game and the players were very disappointed and angry with that decision.”
Despite their seventh straight winless game that left them rooted to the bottom, the German credited his men on an improved showing.
“Football-wise, we kept things even throughout the game,” he said. “The 3-0 score did not reflect the true reflection of the game.
“In the first half, the defence and attack looked OK and we kept the game open and competitive. It would have been psychologically more positive for us than Home if we went into half-time nil-nil.
“After the break, we came close with the free kick and hit the crossbar. It was just that certain things were not falling in place for us and Home took their chances well.”
He remained positive Sengkang have what it takes to turn the situation around.
“If we keep working on the same things we have focusing on training and improve on them, I believe the results will eventually come good for us.”
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