Home United FC VS Young Lions FC

It was a party atmosphere at the Clementi Stadium as Home United FC played their first "home" match of the season. With entry fees waived, many fans turned up to catch this exciting clash. The SPF Drummers as well as the PRISONS Samba Band were present with their beats and sounds.

Home United FC made one change to its starting line-up, with the returning Valery Heik taking over Firdaus Kasman. Isa Halim reverted to his much preferred defensive midfield role. National players Tengku Mushadad and Sharil Alias could only make the bench.

As fans were still streaming into the stadium, Home United FC exploded and took the lead in the first minute. Choi Chul Woo found himself free in the box and his cross-shot was turned into the net by Sharil Ishak. 5 minutes later, Choi forced Young Lions custodian Japser Chan into a flying save. A minute later, Captain Peres De Oliveira should have doubled the advantage but his shot was too soft and allowed the recovering defender to hack it off the line. It was an explosive start from our Protectors and the match could have been sealed had they finish off the chances early on.

On 27 minutes, Sharil Ishak broke through the left side and delivered a good cross. Choi rose highest and his downward header set Nelson San Martin for a free header on goal. However, Nelson was unable to connect properly, much to the relief of Young Lions Head Coach V. Sundramoorthy. His young charges were unable to settle into the match. Home United's front trio was creating plenty of problems as they stretched the Young Lions backline apart. Young Lions were resorting to long punts up front, looking for Khairul Nizam. Home United's pair of Shariff Samat and Valery Heik easily cleaned up those long passes.

On 34 minutes, Fazli Ayob equalised against the run of play.A cross into the box was not dealt with properly and from the ensuing cross, Fazli pounced to make it 1-1. From the restart, Young Lions won possession and surged forward with South Korean Seo Su Hong. Shariff Samat made a last ditch tackle and was penalised by the referee who was a long way from the action. Shariff protests were redundant as the referee stood by his decision. Luka Savic stepped up and scored with an audacious chip to make it 2-1. Home United's response was immediate when Shariff headed against the post. The half was to end 2-1 in favour of the Young Lions. An explosive start was to end disappointingly for our Protectors.

A goal down, Head Coach Lee threw caution to the wind and took off Rosman Sulaiman and replaced him with the tricky Firdaus Idros. Immediately, the substitution worked its effect as Home United were awarded a penalty. The referee judging the Young Lions defender had handled in the box. This was a perfect opportunity for Home United to get back in the game, but Peres's penalty was a poor one and the scores stayed status quo. 10 minutes later, Peres was again gifted a golden chance but once again he disappointed. The Captain was having a poor match by his standards and was duly replaced on 65 minutes. On 69 minutes, Choi thundered a shot into the back of the net but the assistant referee had already flagged for offside. By now, Young Lions seemed intent on sitting back and allowed Home United to create countless chances. Jiayi was to be the next culprit of missing goal-scoring chances when he blasted wide off Choi's neat pass.

With 15 minutes left, Home United were in total control of the match and twice came close. Choi was again frustrated as his header came close to an equalizer. As Home United pushed up on all gears to find the equalizer, they were bound to be exposed. With minutes left, Young Lions should have sealed the match but a poor pass from Hafiz Abu Sujad meant the recovering Valery Heik was able to hack it to safety. The unmarked Khairul Nizam was wide open and had the pass found him, it would have been game, set, match!

In stoppage time, Jiayi forced the ball into the net but again it was disallowed. The referee blew for a foul on the goalkeeper. It was inevitable Home United would score and the much deserved equalizer came deep into injury time. 2009 Player of the Year Valery Heik popped up the other end to finish with a crisp left foot grounder that gave Jasper no chance.

Overall, Home United FC deserved much more. The number of goal scoring chances created were into double figures. Had the chances been taken, it would have been an embarassing scoreline. As it is, our Protectors dropped two points at home.

Line-up: Lionel Lewis, Shariff Abdul Samat, Juma'at Jantan, Valery Heik, Isa Halim, Sharil Ishak, Rosman Sulaiman (Firdaus Idros 46 "), Shi Jiayi, Nelson San Martin (Shahdan Sulaiman 27 "), Peres De Oliveira (Zulfadhli Zainal 65 "), Choi Chul Woo