Post-match Reports - 14th April 2010
Home United FC VS Balestier Khalsa FC
Balestier Khalsa FC had towering defenders Daniel Hammond and Paul Cunningham marshalling the defence while Brazilian forwards Rivaldo Costa and Victor Borges lead the attack. Home United settled well and attacked Balestier Khalsa in numbers. The midfield consisting of Azhar Sairudin, Shahdan Sulaiman, Shi Jiayi and Nelson San Martin dictated the pattern of play. The quartet's passing and movements troubled Balestier Khalsa on numerous occasions. On 18 minutes, Shi Jiayi opened the accounts with a looping header over Balestier's custodian Ahmadulhaq Che Omar when he was left unmarked at the far post. Captain for the night, in the absence of an ill-stricken Sharil Ishak, Jiayi was buzzing in midfield. The National midfielder's recent performances has been close to his usual standards. On 24 minutes, Azhar came close to meet Shahdan's cross after a well worked move involving 4 players. Against the run of play, Balestier equalised on on the half hour mark. Victor Borges silenced the "home" crowd with a well placed header. The Brazilian had rose highest to meet team-mate Vikram's cross. From the restart, Azhar blasted over from 10 yards after good work from Nelson. A minute later, Azhar redeemed himself with a well taken goal. Nelson once again the provider with a good pass to slip Azhar in behind Balestier's defence. From the restart, Balestier got a freekick in the attacking third. This time, Rivaldo Coast rose highest to head the ball into the same corner of the goal. Once again, Lionel had no chance. Two crosses into the box and two goals conceded. It was nightmare defending from Valery Heik and Co. The frist half closed with another goal scoringchance when Choi Chul Woo blasted over from range. It was an entertaining first 45 minutes with plenty of goal-mouth actions. The fans certainly got their money's worth !
Two minutes into the second half, Rivaldo came close to giving Balestier a shock lead when he spun and curled his shot towards goal. Fortunately, it was a wee bit too high. After a pulsating first half, the second half was a sombre one with little goal mouth action. Both teams tightened up and gave little away. On 66 minutes, Rivaldo missed the best chance of the half when he failed to beat Lionel after going through one on one. Ten minutes later, substitute Anantha Rajan shot from range but failed to trouble Lionel. 3 minutes later, Firdaus Idros had a great chance to score when a quick throw-in found him all alone in the box but he took too long and gave the recovering Balestier defenders the chance to snuff him out. On 85 minutes, Balestier broke away but Syaqir Sulaiman could not convert Vikram's cross. Two minutes later, Home United had a big shout for a penalty when it seemed pretty obvious that Choi had been pulled down in the box. Referee Zaid Hussein waved off the frevent protests. It ended 2-2 and it was a disappointing result for Home United, who certainly felt it was two points dropped instead of a point gaained.
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