Home United FC VS Young Lions FC

Home United FC's Prime League forward Sufian Anuar came off the bench and netted a quick-fire double to give our Protectors a come from behind 2-1 victory over Young Lions FC in last night's S-League match at the Clementi Stadium.

Coming into the match after a two week lay-off, our Protectors struggled to get ino any momentum. The players lacked sharpness and the first half was littered with misplaced passes. It was a dull first 45 minutes with the only excitment coming on the stroke of half-time when Valery Heik's header forced Young Lions goalkeeper into an instinctive save.

With the cob-webs removed after 45 minutes, our Protectors started the second half firing, seizing the initiative and looking dangerous to open the scoring. On 49 minutes, Home United were awarded a freekick and Jiayi saw his flicked header saved by Izwan Mahbud. The young custodian quickly launched the ball forward and found substitute Nazrul Ahmad who crossed to the far post to an ummarked Hariss Harun. The Young Lions skipper showed great awareness as he laid the ball onto Faris Ramli, who smashed the ball past Lionel Lewis for a shock lead.

On the hour mark, Head Coach Lee Lim Saeng threw caution to the wind by taking off defender Zulfadli Zainal and replacing him with forward Sufian Anuar. The move worked wonders as Sufian equalised on 68th minute with a well placed finish, after some good work from Jun Wookeun. Two minutes later, Sufian scored his second of the night with another well taken shot. Home United was now in control and looked to kill the match with a third.

To the Young Lions credit, they never gave up and could have rescued a point right at the death. A corner was headed onto the post before our Protectors scrambled the ball to safety. As referee Abdul Malik blew for the final whistle, the Young Lions sunk with heads low, while our Protectors were relieved to have secured the all important three points.

Line-up: Lionel Lewis, Sharil Alias, Zulfadli Zainal (Sufian Anuar 59"), Valery Heik, Isa Halim, Shahdan Sulaiman (Firdaus Kasman 67"), Shi Jiayi, Chun Jae Woon, Jun Wookeun, Sharil Ishak, Tengku Mushadad