Ko Po Hui
info@sleague.com
Home United saw their fairytale run of 25 games unbeaten come to a crashing halt on Thursday evening – and it was one of their former stars who did the business for archrivals SAFFC.
Indra Sahdan Daud, once an idol among Protectors fans, haunted his old side on their visit to Choa Chu Kang Stadium, earning a penalty converted by Ivan Jerkovic and scoring the decisive second himself in an impactful substitute appearance that secured a 2-0 win for the Warriors.
The result sent SAFFC up to top spot in the standings, at least for 24 hours, before another mouth-watering clash between Etoile FC and Tampines Rovers puts either of them at pole.
It could have been a very different story had Home taken the lead in the sixth minute of a frenetic opening period, when SAFFC centreback Bah Mamadou’s misguided clearance in the middle of the park allowed Home skipper Shi Jiayi to sneak past the backline.
Unfortunately for the Protectors, Shi’s good work went up in smoke when Sufian Anuar’s poor control saw the ball being ushered out of danger by the Warriors defence.
More scary moments came eight minutes later, when the colossal Daniel Bennett gifted his national teammate Shi the ball, and the latter’s cross showed enough precision to ruffle a few feathers in the six-yard box.
A towering Frederic Mendy was the first to respond with a downward header that bounced off an SAFFC defender, but eventually Shahril Jantan decisively took down Sufian’s close-range effort.
SAFFC’s strength at the back came at the expense of limiting their own attacking options up front, as Richard Bok’s decision to send out a side featuring only one starting striker in Fazrul Nawaz offered few outlets for a goal from open play for most of the first half.
By all accounts, it was a conservative tactical move by the Warriors coach, who was already without the services of the suspended Mislav Karoglan.
Followers of the eight-time league champions might not have been impressed with a strategy that did not look like the players were going for goals, but Bok rejected any suggestion that he was being negative.
“I thought Fazrul worked hard as he chased and held the ball, while gave us some fouls around the area which worked (our way),” said the 41-year-old.
“Furthermore, he did well against Gombak (last week), so I felt he deserved to start this game.
“I thought defensively we were sound last week and we didn’t let other team score, so I kept faith with the team. If we do that in any game and score at the other end, we’ll get the three points.”
Apart from the odd slip-up, the Warriors did decently to silence the Home strikeforce which missed the services of Qiu Li.
Qiu was injured a day before this derby match, and his absence had its impact on the game as defenders were mostly on top at both ends of the field.
Given a roaming role on the wings, Taisuke Akiyoshi got involved on 21 minutes by laying the ball to a surging Fazrul on the left, who squared it to the centre towards the Protectors’ near post, but the effort was read well by Home rightback Juma’at Jantan, whose anticipation denied Jerkovic any opening.
But with opportunities not coming forward freely for both sides, Bok decided to unleash his trump card – Indra – on 59 minutes.
Even though it was Fazrul who made way, the Warriors coach made sure not to forget to laud his work.
“I decided to bring in Indra after Fazrul had been down with some indigestion,” he said.
“Because of that, it was a matter of time Fazrul would come off, but let’s put it this way, Indra had scored a goal, Goal No.202, in an instinctive way. As for Fazrul, like I mentioned, he played hard as well.”
The appearance of the former Lions captain on the field seems to alter the complexion of the match, which had looked far milder than some of the two teams’ more recent meetings.
And Indra made his impact just nine minutes after coming on.
Latching on to a pass from the middle off defensive midfielder Noh Rahman, the seasoned forward shredded through a leaking Protectors defence, so much so that Lionel Lewis left with little choice but to floor his ex-clubmate.
That move did not meet with the approval of referee Abas Daud, who awarded the penalty that Jerkovic proceeded to calmly send into the net on 69 minutes.
The Warriors fans were ecstatic, yet more joy awaited them with just six minutes remaining when Indra scored a goal himself by putting away a rebound shot.
A ball in from Jerkovic came off former Warriors stalwart Kenji Arai’s thigh, and when Rhysh Roshan Rai’s attempt came back off the foot of a post, Indra found himself at the right place to put the shot away.
To his credit, he did not simply blast home, but waited for Lewis to commit himself before sending the ball high into the Home net.
“That was my only job in the box,” said the 32-year-old, who did his best not to look overexcited about scoring against the club with whom he had won several trophies.
“The important thing is that we won tonight, and with them (Home) drawing their last game, I thought this a good chance for us to catch up.”
It was a view echoed by his coach, after the result saw the Warriors at the top of the standings for the first time since the opening day of the season, when they had sunk the Courts Young Lions 2-0.
“It’s good to be at the top of the table again, and I hope we can maintain that momentum,” opined Bok.
Following the away loss, the visiting Protectors not only surrendered their proud run, but also found themselves knocked off the summit.
Home coach Lee Lim Saeng was understandably disappointed, but refused to blame his players as he claimed responsibility for the result.
“A record like this is always meant to break,” said the Korean.
“The opponents took their chances well and scored, while we did not. But I just want to tell my players to work hard and focus on the next game, which is against Etoile.
“Things can’t be helped by the injuries to my players like JJ (Juma’at) and Qiu Li, and others like Kim (Dae Eui) are still recovering and cannot play so much. I hope they come back to the team soon.”
No comments:
Post a Comment