Super Reds comeback halts Gombak charge
Ong Jiing Yih
info@sleague.com
A comeback performance from the Super Reds helped them close the gap on league co-leaders Gombak United with a 3-1 victory at Yishun Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Falling behind to Ojimi Gabriel Obatola’s opener proved none too great an obstacle, as the hosts restored parity through Kim Yoon Sik’s stunning long-range strike ten minutes before the break.
The Super Reds stepped up their game further in the second half, and Park Kang Jin and Park Han Seok ensured they got the deserved rewards with a goal apiece to claim the points.
The younger Park was sent off six minutes from time as tempers flared towards the last half-hour, but that did not stop the Super Reds from narrowing the gap on their opponents to nine points with more than half the season still to go.
The hosts made one change to the attacking setup that had overrun the Young Lions 5-0 last week, veteran Yun Bo Young stepping down to the bench as Lee Du Ri made his first start in seven weeks.
They faced a Gombak side determined to pack men in the middle, as Goran Subara returned from suspension to join Shafuan Sutohmoh and Thai playmaker Theerawekin Seehawong while Obatola and Ruhaizad Ismail manned the flanks.
The match opened tightly as both sides struggled to get their passing rhythm on a bumpy pitch that was spared the recent rains.
Lee managed a shot on 11 minutes to mark his return to the starting eleven, but the first effort on target did not arrive until 16 minutes into the match, when Park Kang Jin stumbled his way past Bah Mamadou and tested Fadhil Salim with a scuffed shot.
A minute later, the opening goal arrived. Unfortunately for the home fans, it happened at the other end as Gombak broke away.
Some good footwork by Theerawekin took him past leftback Kim Shin Yui, and his cross towards the near post was met by Obatola with the most awkward of touches – but that proved adequate to get the ball past Jeon Bong Seong in the Super Reds goal.
Gombak gradually grew in confidence and could have gone two up after 22 minutes, had Shafuan not seen his searing shot tipped away by Jeon.
But those two moments only served to provide the spur for the Bears to ask questions of Gombak’s defence.
First Choi Dong Soo forced Fadhil into punching away his cross on 28 minutes, and then Mamadou had to launch himself at Kim Seong Kyu’s centre in order to prevent the nearest striker from reaching the ball.
The Bulls could only hold out for so long, though, and the breakthrough came for Kim Yoon Sik on 35 minutes after the visitors could only block but not clear shots by the Super Reds strikers.
Kim’s fine strike from just outside the area zipped through a sea of legs, and in truth Fadhil saw the ball too late to make the required save.
But the former Woodlands Wellington goalkeeper was definitely let down by his defence eight minutes in the second half as the Super Reds went ahead.
Kim Tae Young had set Park Kang Jin up with a through pass that caught the Gombak defenders in all the wrong places, and skipper Sevki Sha’ban was their last hope as he tried to match the striker for pace.
There could only be one winner, though, and once he edged ahead, Park did not hesitate to pull the trigger and send a powerful low shot beyond Fadhil’s despairing reach.
Gombak were under siege from them on, but even as they trailed Subara showed the game was pretty much alive as he nodded a free kick off target on 63 minutes.
Three minutes later, the men in white had reason to feel aggrieved after what looked like a tug by last man Kim Yoon Sik on substitute Kingsley Njoku apparently went unnoticed by referee Leow Thiam Hoe, much to the displeasure of Gombak players and supporters alike.
That moment marked the start of a heated spell in the second half, and Ruhaizad, who had already been booked for a foul shortly after the hosts’ second goal, came dangerously close to getting sent off several times while other Gombak players were shown yellow cards.
But the Super Reds did well to keep their heads above the chaos, and they locked up the match on 74 minutes.
Choi eluded Jeremy Chiang down the left as his cross sailed across the face of goal, where Park Han Seok stood ready and blasted the ball low into the opposite corner.
That was the end of the scoring, but the match was far from over as far as incidents were concerned, Chiang picking up his team’s fifth and final yellow card of the night for a tackle that Yu Hyun Koo made to appear more painful than it might have been.
Loud cries of agony became increasingly commonplace as the match wore on, yet ironically enough, it was one of the home team’s players who would be sent off.
The unfortunate man turned out to be Park Kang Jin, whose challenge on Jaslee Hatta left the latter all crumpled and prompted Leow to produce a yellow card, the striker’s second of the evening.
Still, the Super Reds looked in control and almost had a fourth goal in stoppage time, when substitute Kwon Jin fired his shot into Mamadou after looking like he had managed to shake the lanky defender off.
There was no denying the strong display the Koreans had shown, though, and Gombak coach Darren Stewart admitted his team was convincingly overwhelmed in the end.
“One shot, one goal – our first-half performance was tremendous. But the Super Reds were too good as they overawed us.
“I can only put my hands up and say we’re not good enough, there’ll be no shame in losing.”
Bears coach Jeon Kyeong Joon meanwhile had reason to smile, after their third consecutive league victory suggested that last season’s runners-up had turned the corner after a slow start to this campaign.
“We began in a hard way and seemed not very prepared. Having got back our confidence we are now in a better state than in pre-season.
“We’re now able to make better passes and build up our teamwork. All we need now is to fit the right strategy into our plans for the next match.”
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