"Vincent was pleased with the win, as he felt patience was the best way to tackle past a well-drilled defence."
(from hufc.com.sg)
A double by Kengne Ludovick and another by Sharil Ishak secured a 3-0 victory tonight at the Yishun Stadium.
Home United maintain their four-point gap ahead of nearest challengers Tampines Rovers as they steam-rolled to a 3-0 win over the Koreans. Though the Koreans were somewhat fortunate to keep the score down despite improved showings of late, the Protectors may have that little bit extra which could prove to be the deciding factor in the title race.Home had Syaqir Sulaiman pencilled in for his first S-League start, as Indra made to the bench having recovered slightly from his knee injury. Subramani sat out. Shahril Alias and Swee Swee must have been buoyed by their call-up to the U-23 squad, despite Vincent’s concern about fatigue and the team falling short on numbers in the latter half of the season. Still, Shahril’s contributions have not gone unnoticed and this piece of news is further proof of his recognition.
The match had barely begun before the Koreans decided to dish out their physical treatment, as Jia Yi became the first victim. Kim Hyun Jun was the first to go into the referee’s notebook as he scythed down Jia Yi from behind. Jia Yi manfully endured and carried on until midway through the second half. Meanwhile, all the Koreans could show for their efforts was a series of long-range efforts that went astray. Wayward attempts they have been, and Lionel was untroubled. Though the match was temporarily halted due to lightning, the players returned after five minutes as Ludovick could have opened the scoring having put in the clear, but he fired his shot straight at Kim Ji Soo. On 33 minutes, he atoned for his earlier miss by helping to put the Protectors in the lead. Ludovick received the ball on the left and cut past a defender, dummied him and then sent in a cross, which was perfectly placed for the onrushing Shahril Ishak to head home.
That was probably the only meaningful incident of the first half, as the Koreans came out fired up after the break, roared on by the support by their compatriots in the stands. Juma’at nearly embarassed Kim the keeper with a cross-shot of his own, but as our defender saw it, Kim was no Fabien Barthez as he tipped away his shot at the right moment. After some intermittment play in the centre of the park, the second goal arrived with 57 minutes on the clock. The youthful Syaqir maintained his composure under pressure and subsequently laid the ball on for Jia Yi. His invention saw Rosman running through, as the stand-in skipper (Rosman) played a one-two with Qiu Li. The Chinese player slipped it through to Ludovick, who made no mistake. The Koreans had begun to hang their heads, as disaster struck once more, with the whole backline indulging in ball-watching as Ludovick was left with acres of space, to rack up the score and make it 3-0. Qiu Li had done well to shake off his marker and unselfishly laid on the ball for the stocky Cameroonian player. With slightly more than twenty minutes left on the clock, the result had been all but confirmed.
Rather unsurprisingly, the Korean let their frustrations show and several players got away with blatant challenges, as Kone was on the receiving end of one elbow too many, with the offender getting away with only a caution. Swee Swee made his way into the fans’ good books with his persistence late on, alas his injured arm could only take that much, as he trudged off to be replaced by Indra a few minutes from time. The Protectors had already been home and dry by then.
Post match, Vincent was pleased with the win, as he felt patience was the best way to tackle past a well-drilled defence. With the Koreans pulling up their socks with every passing match, there was no room for slip-ups according to him, with the likes of Gombak and Liaoning making up lost ground on their respective rivals in the league table. With Gombak only managing a draw against Geylang, and with Tampines still having to play their game in hand, Home could do well enough to enjoy their mini-break before the league resumes on June 10th, with Liaoning coming up on the horizon at Bishan.
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