Home United vs Tampines Rovers Report [1-1]

Fadzu’s first strike saves Home Ong Jiing Yih info@sleague.com Fadzuhasny Juraimi’s first strike of the season turned out to be a point-saver for Home United as they held Tampines Rovers to a 1-1 draw at Clementi Stadium on Wednesday evening. The 29-year-old volleyed home six minutes from time to cancel out the Stags’ only strike of the game, which came in the first half courtesy of Qiu Li. It was a game of two halves as Tampines started promisingly, but the Protectors rallied in the second half and did much to press hard on Hassan Sunny’s goal. Still, it took a late dismissal for the hosts to find a breakthrough, as Shariff Abdul Samat’s early shower opened up space for Fadzuhasny to find the leveller. Much noise was made among the 1,110 fans when referee P. Pandian produced Shariff’s second yellow card on 80 minutes for lunging at Kengne Ludovick, having already booked the same player three minutes earlier for unsporting behaviour. But Tampines coach Vorawan Chitavanich sidestepped the debate as he commended his charges for a good showing, which almost yielded them full points had Akihiro Nakamura’s injury-time header found its way into the back of the Home net. “We want to win every match we go into,” stressed the former Thailand international. “We’ve been talking about it (after the SAFFC game on Saturday), and had we lost the gap between us and the other title teams would have been big. “We controlled the game and had one chance late on, off Akihiro’s header. “As for the referee’s decision, we’re outside of the field so it’s finished. We can’t touch him because he is king on the field.” The match started in robust fashion as Nakamura was sent tumbling by a meaty challenge from Home centreback Valery Hiek, underlining how keen both teams were to get something out of this encounter. The first chance arrived after nine minutes, when Qiu and Sutee Suksomkit combined to set Benoit Croissant up for a firm first-time shot that Lionel Lewis did well to keep out. From there on, the Stags enjoyed the majority of possession, and it took a backtracking Shi Jiayi to cut Sutee off from a fine through pass by Aliff Shafaein. Seiji Kaneko then swept up the length of the field to meet a cross by Qiu with an emphatic header that veered just wide of the target on 21 minutes. Despite all the warning signs being there, PN Sivaji’s men struggled to come up with a coherent response to the incisive play their opponents had shown. They were duly made to pay the price on 24 minutes, when a precise delivery from Sutee eluded Aliff but found its way to the quick-witted Qiu, who raced in to prod the ball past Lewis for a 1-0 lead. Aliff could have doubled the advantage for the visitors nine minutes later, when he was left all alone inside the Home penalty area. But the diminutive striker, not one known for his heading, could only nod Sutee’s cross over the bar. Home were huffing and puffing but nowhere near blowing the Tampines defence down for the rest of the first half, and coach PN Sivaji turned to winger Itimi Dickson for inspiration as he brought him on for Shi at the interval. The move was greeted with a positive response from the players, as first Rosman Sulaiman and then Peres de Oliveira drew saves out of Hassan, who had little meaningful work to do until that point. The Stags were not the sort of team who would sit back in the face of such attacks, though, and Ridhuan Muhammad indicated as much when he exchanged passes with Aliff before releasing the latter into the box. Aliff’s shot on the turn had little sting to it, though, and Lewis was allowed a comfortable save. Sparks flew ten minutes from time when Shariff lunged in to prevent Ludovick from reaching the ball, a move that referee Pandian determined as warranting a booking. Notwithstanding the fact that Shariff had already collected a yellow card minutes earlier for unsporting behaviour, Pandian went by the book and sent the centreback of, making him an unpopular man among the visiting fans. Sivaji responded by sending Shahdan Sulaiman on in a last-ditch effort to gain a point, and again the Home players read the signal well as they grabbed the equalizer six minutes from time. A Dickson cross found its way to Oilveira, who allowed the ball to drop before feeding it on a plate for Fadzuhasny to fire a left-footed volley home from outside the penalty area. But Home still had work to do to preserve their hard-earned point, as Tampines put up one last rally even though they were one man down. Again it was another former Protectors servant at the heart of the move, substitute Shukor Zailan sending in a cross that Nakamura could not plant into the Home goal. In the end, it was a game that both teams could have won, as Sivaji noted in his post-match analysis. “We could have won the game with the chances created in the second half, as was Tampines who could have won as well,” he told sleague.com. “We had a poor first half, at one moment trying to deal with Ridhuan and Sutee. However, having pushed Peres further up in the second half, the momentum of the game was on our side, as Tampines were pushed back.” Sivaji also had words for prodigal son Fadzuhasny, who returned to the Home fold this year after two seasons away at Geylang United and Woodlands Wellington. “He had been the butt of the boo-boys, who are mostly our fans. But it was a great goal from him to boot. “Overall, I’m pleased with the result after creating chances. This helps put the team in a very good mood.”