Beijing Guoan FC VS Home United FC

Home United FC played at the Jalan Besar Stadium for the first time in a Friday "live" match. Home United FC had to come from behind to draw 3-3 with newcomers Etoile FC in their last match. Coming into this one, Home United missed key defender Valery Heik, who was sent off in the last match.

Tengku Mushadad was being deployed in a unfamiliar role as centreback and Home United's offensive 4-3-3 formation was twicked to a 5-3-2 formation for this match against the speedy Chinese side.

On 10 minutes, Captain Sharil Ishak thundered a shot past Beijing Guoan's custodian Su Boyang but referee K.Kalimuthu ruled it out for an handling offence. Minutes later, Tengku was hurried into a poor clearance across his own goal after Tan Tiancheng slalomed his way past two Home United players. On 16 minutes, Home United took the lead from a Shi Jiayi freekick. From the edge of the box, Jiayi curled it towards a sea of players and the ball somehow escaped all to bounce past Su Boyang to give Home United a 1-0 lead.

A goal up, Home United then controlled the match with good passing movements and looked good for the lead going into half-time. Minutes before half-time, Zhang Xizhe's pace and directness saw him cut inside and unleashed a left footed shot which took a wicked deflection off Tengku's back and flew past Lionel Lewis . 1-1! The goal was a shock to our Protectors as Beijing hardly created any impression after conceding the early goal.

Coming out for the second half, Beijing Guoan seemed buoyed by the equalizer and gained the upper hand. Lionel Lewis had to produce a good save to keep the Chinese at bay. The National custodian had to react fast to stop Yu Yang's volley from a Zhang Xizhe's corner. Our Protectors lacklustre second half start was finally punished by the Chinese dominance on 71 minutes. Off a routine throw-in in the defenisve third, Shi Jiayi made a mess of things and gifted possession to the Chinese side and was duly punished by Liu Teng, whose assured shot nestled the net.

After conceding the goal, our Protectors responded with a series of attacks that created several goal-scoring chances. Choi Chul Woo was in the thick of action as he saw his header cleared off the line and later his cross found Sharil Ishak, who saw his header crash back off the post. The woodwork was to deny Home United the equalizer again minutes later when pacy Firdaus Idros volleyed well only to see it crash back off the bar. Sherif El-Masri could not force the loose ball into the net as the Chinese scrambled the ball to safety.

Home United's lack of luck and killer instinct in front of goal was heart wrenching and on 89 minutes, Beijing Guoan's Zhang Xizhe showed the scoring touch with a superb finish to kill off any hopes of a Protectors' comeback. Receiving the ball just inside the box, he wrapped his right foot round it and curled past Tengku into the far corner. Lionel Lewis was left stunned by the wonderful shot. A minute later, the Chinese side added a fourth through substitute Wang Hao and inflicted a heavy defeat on our Protectors.

Home United FC badly needs to finish off the goalscoring chances and they will look to bounce back quickly with the next match two days away. On Monday, they face struggling side Woodlands Wellington FC at the Woodlands Stadium.

Line-up: Lionel Lewis, Juma'at Jantan, Sharil Alias (Shariff Abdul Samat 67"), Zulfadli Zainal (Firdaus Idros 56"), Rosman Sulaiman (Nelson San Martin 76"), Isa Halim, Sherif El-Masri, Tengku Mushadad, Shi Jiayi, Sharil Ishak, Choi Chul Woo.