Woodlands Wellington vs Home United [2-1]

Rams continue rise with Home scalp

Paul Green
info@sleague.com

Woodlands Wellington are beginning to make their move towards the top half of the Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League ladder, and they are doing it at the expense of teams like Home United, whom they defeated 2-1 at Woodlands Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Rams recorded their second win in a row, following their sensational 2-1 result over Gombak United the previous Saturday, and they put a real dent in the Protectors’ hopes of figuring among the top three or four teams again this season with this sound victory.

Any fears that a depleted Woodlands side might struggle against an experienced Home outfit were quelled as early as the 15th minute, when Singapore defender Precious Emuejeraye fired in a free kick that beat goalkeeper Lionel Lewis all ends up.

The Rams had lost captain Azlan Alipah to an injury sustained during the warm-up, and were already without the injured Hasrin Jailani, plus the suspended pairing of Luis Eduardo Hicks and Syaiful Iskandar.

While it must be mentioned that Protectors midfielder Shahril Ishak also had to pull out of the squad after a mishap during the warm-up, the visitors were really only missing Peres de Oliveira from their best possible lineup, according to their coach PN Sivaji.

“Our first half was very poor,” he said after the game.

“They were much quicker to the ball than we were and there were far too many individuals out there and not enough team work, though, to their credit, the players came back strongly in the second half and I could not fault their effort then.”

But by that stage the damage had been done.

Adding to the brilliantly-struck free kick from Precious 25 yards out, after a ‘silly foul’ had been given away in Sivaji’s words, Woodlands scored a second goal on the half-hour.

Iranian forward Mojtaba Tehranizadeh proved a real handful for the heavily-manned Home United defence throughout the first 45 minutes.

Several moves he was involved in had already led to some narrow misses, before he waltzed through on the right and gave Lewis no chance again with an authoritative finish from 15 yards in the 30th minute.

The ease with which the marauding striker had found his way past the weak challenge of Juma’at Jantan must have alarmed the visitors, who still had the job of containing both he and his striking partner, the Egyptian Zakaria Yousif, for the remaining hour of the game.

Jamil Ali was playing in an unfamiliar role in the middle of the park, too, due to injuries to others in the Woodlands squad, but he figured in some important moves and was, significantly, the man brought down by Itimi Dickson when the free kick that led to the opening goal was awarded.

Jamil clipped a good chance over the bar in the 19th from the Iranian’s cross and had another good shot blocked in the 32nd, but the home team’s dominance withered markedly after the break.

A more resolute Protectors side could see that the Rams were sitting back, hoping to catch them on the counterattack, but nothing dangerous materialised as Home made all the running after the break.

Home, however, were denied at least a share of the spoils and possibly a come-from-behind victory due to the superb saves of Rams goalkeeper Rezal Hassan.

The stand-in captain made at least three crucial saves in the last half-hour to ensure the points would not slip away from his team’s grasp.

In addition, he cut out cross after cross with alacrity and was beaten only once, Norikazu Murakami getting another goal against the Rams to add to the hat-trick he collected in the teams’ previous meeting at the end of March.

Murakami and his lively strike partner, Kengne Ludovick, were both out of luck, either firing wide when well-placed or seeing defenders coming to the Rams’ rescue with well-timed tackles.

Murakami’s goal in the 71st, when it came, was spectacular.

A corner won on the right saw the ball quickly played short to Dickson, whose sweeping cross was latched onto by the Protectors No.9 with an overhead scissors kick that finally saw Rezal beaten from 12 yards.

There was still time for Home to win the game and every effort was made to achieve that objective, but when Ludovick could not converge with the best timing on the perfect cross from Dickson in the 74th and Valery Hiek’s stoppage-time free kick was tipped expertly over the bar, the visitors knew it was not to be their day.

Rams coach Nenad Bacina was a very happy man at the end.

“The players worked very hard for this result,” he said.

“Not just tonight but in many of our earlier games where we did not have any luck. Tonight we are getting the benefit of all our hard work at last.

“Tonight it was Home United who had none of the luck, but with our captain missing and two players in strange positions it was an excellent performance by the team against one of the best teams in the league.”

A week ago the Rams were among the strugglers in ninth place. Now they are on a roll, having moved on to 22 points and into seventh spot.

With a weekend home game to come against Balestier Khalsa they must fancy their chances of drawing level with the Protectors, who have 25 points and sit in fifth spot.

Home must now lick their wounds and return to Clementi Stadium on Saturday night to send Geylang United away pointless, so that they can at least keep the momentum going on their own turf.