Home stays at top

"Two Indra Sahdan headers and a late consolation from Li Tong lit up an otherwise dull match."

2 goals in the second half earned HUFC full points on Sunday night to dominate the lead at the top of the table.
The thorny issue of fixture congestion reared its ugly head once again as Home United laboured to a 2-1 victory over a resilient Liaoning Guangyuan side looking to build on their recent good form. Two Indra Sahdan headers and a late consolation from Li Tong lit up an otherwise dull match, as Shahril Ishak simply could not put a foot right on the night.
Lionel had arrived back home just in time from Spain to make the starting XI, as Indra was made skipper ahead of Mani, who made the bench having recovered from his hurt stomach muscle. Qiu Li drops to the bench, as Syaqir continued in midfield. Liaoning meanwhile had regular captain Zhang Haifeng benched in light of his groin strain, as Chen Bo took over the armband in an otherwise unchanged line-up. The match began rather sluggishly, as Liaoning had seemingly yet to recover from playing only three days ago, as the Protectors have their own quartet who had only just returned from a two-match stint with the U-23 national selection.
Liaoning players have had most of the possession it seemed for the majority of the first half, but they failed to make anything productive out of that. Either no one attacked the crosses or communication between teammates broke down. Fatigue was the main reason of why they performed below expectations. Which opened up opportunities for Home to exploit, but they did not.
Both Diakite and Shahril Alias had to be alert on different occasions to clear away the danger from lone striker Li Tong, as Kone’s effort could not get past the fingers of Qin Xiao the Chinese keeper. The poor pitch did not help Home’s Jia Yi’s cause as his shot went high and wide. Indra could have opened the scoring on 38 minutes but shot straight at the keeper. The second half had barely begun as a tactical masterstroke brought a goal out of the Protectors.
Juma’at and Kone exchanged passes on the left and the Singapore national player had the right idea of sending in a first time cross with his right foot and Indra gleefully accepted the invitation to nod the ball past Qin in the Liaoning goal. 1-0 and it seemed a long time coming, but it was probably no less than what Home deserved. They upped the ante further when Indra once again popped up in the right place at the right time to prod the ball home, after the static Liaoning defence dealt with Jia Yi’s corner less than convincingly. In between those two moments was the awfully missed penalty by Qiu Li, whose body position did not suggest he would be spot on, and it proved.
Replacement keeper Wang Haoyi had the last laugh after coming on for Qin (who had to be carried after a clash of bodies with Ludovick), and he guessed the right way to palm away his fluffed spot kick. With the lead secured, the Protectors seemed content to hold on to their two-goal advantage. Lionel was kept on his toes occasionally by the likes of Yao Li and Li Zheng, who tested him with a series of attempts. They finally got their reward a minute from time as Li Tong nipped in to plant a header past the despairing reach of Lionel, after good work on the right by Peng Zhiyi.
Both coaches lamented after the game about the fatigue that affected the players. While all Liaoning could do at present is to look for reinforcements to the squad, the Protectors have it all in their hands to prove their doubter wrong, by winning again and again.