"Home United rode their luck once again as they snatched a 3-2 win from the hands of Albirex Niigata (S)."
Kengne Ludovick's 90th minute strike earns the Protectors full points. Home United rode their luck once again as they snatched a 3-2 win from the hands of Albirex Niigata (S). The Japanese side have reasons to feel hard done by, as they saw their plans of gaining at least a point go up in smoke, as Kengne Ludovick got the winner in injury time.
With Jun Ishikawa replacing regular skipper Shin Hosogai, Albirex began with an almost unchanged lineup from the side that beat Sengkang Punngol. It is the away side who carved out the more meaningful chances early on, as Home struggled to find their momentum. Tetsuya Okayama fired the first warning shot, as he missed Eiichiro Ozaki cutback on the 7th minute mark. Six minutes on, a clever pass by midfield man Norikazu Sakata once again set the veteran striker free, but Lionel Lewis was up to the task, as he saved the ball in between his legs.
Undeterred, Home soon found their way and came close to opening the scoring as first Ludovick then Shi Jia Yi saw their attempts on goal go wide. Needless to say, it was that man Ludovic who gave Home the lead in the 25th minute. Having seen Indra’s perfect through ball, all he needed was for his marker to slip. As he needed no second invitation, all he needed to do was to slip the ball past the keeper. One-nil to the Protectors. It was a strike worthy of the game, in which Home’s top scorer was as cool as a cucumber.
Not to be outdone, Okayama raced down the field but missed a sitter, as he lofted the ball over the bar after Yoshitaka Komori’s piece of skill.
The Protectors could have got a second but Indra Sahdan’s heavy first touch let him down, after Diakite Fode Bangaly’s through pass set him up.
Action resumed after the break, as Kone Hamed tested keeper Norio Takahashi with that scorcher of his. As the game opened up, both Okayama and Ludovic exchanged efforts on goal. Unfortunately, Albirex got the equaliser moments after the hour-mark as Okayama headed back Hosogai’s cross across goal. It was left to the unmarked Akira Takase to head past Lionel.
Before the away side could settle down, Home hit back through a magnificent effort from one of their key players, in the 74th minute. Having brought down Ludovick on the edge of the box, Komori could only stand and watch as Jia Yi bent the resulting free kick past a flailing Takahashi to put the home side in the lead. 2-1 and nearly all spectators in the stands thought the game was about to end as a contest. However, Okayama had other ideas. One slick attacking move saw him race down the right, and after he held off the challenge of Harun Juma’at, he slotted the ball past Lionel, to restore parity once again on 75 minutes.
The Protectors now had to come from behind again, having done so for the previous five occasions, against the Young Lions, Albirex themselves, Balestier Khalsa, Geylang United and Super Reds respectively. Which they did so in glorious fashion on the stroke of full time. After Rosman won the ball in midfield and fed Indra, he passed to Ludovick who held the ball beautifully. A neat interchange saw Ludovick latching onto Indra’s return ball, and he wasted little time to cheekily toe-poking the ball into goal. 3-2 to Home United and the referee blew for full time after 2 minutes of stoppages.
With this result, the Protectors go level on points with leaders SAFFC, albeit with a slightly lesser goal difference.
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