Woodlands Wellington thwart Home United’s title ambitions with shock win

By REDintern Dan Azmi. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Woodlands Stadium, Sunday, October 26, 2008 – Home United suffered a severe dent to their S.League title hopes with only three matches remaining after they surprisingly lost 1-2 to Woodlands Wellington on Sunday.

Park Tae Won (Woodlands Wellington, #18) opened the scoring in the 12th minute from a low 30-yard deflected free-kick, before Home responded with a stiff low shot from Shi Jiayi (Home United, #7) to the keeper’s right in the 34th minute. Captain Akihiro Nakamura (Woodlands Wellington, #10) produced a grounder in the 73rd minute, a carbon copy of Home’s goal, to seal the win.

The first five minutes was played at a blistering pace, as Home tried to control the rhythm of the game. They kept utilizing the right flank for Shi Jiayi to pump in crosses, which were however dealt well by the Woodlands central defenders.

But for all of Home United’s possession, it was Woodlands who had the first real crack at goal. Park Tae Won received a cross-field ball from team mate Sazali Salleh (Woodlands Wellington, #14), dropped a shoulder to fool a defender before seeing his angled shot from the right parried by national custodian, Lionel Lewis (Home United, #18).

Home tried to conjure a chance, with striker Kengne Ludovick (Home United, #10) being especially lively, but he was well marshalled by the Woodlands defenders. On the other side of the pitch, it looked to be a running battle between Woodlands forward Fadzuhasny Juraimi (#7) and Home’s rock-solid Valery Hiek (#13), with the latter intercepting passes to the forward time and again to frustrate the former national striker.

12 minutes on, Woodlands stunned the favourites. Lionel Lewis seemed to look like he had it covered when he organized the wall to defend a 30-yard Woodlands free kick, but Park Tae Won’s low shot to the left of the goal took a deflection off the wall and settled into the net, much to the surprise of the Korean winger, who wheeled away in joy.

It was his 99th goal, and he was certainly hopeful of getting more in front of the home fans.

That goal certainly caused Home United to turn up a gear in their pursuit of the equaliser. After 20 minutes, they almost found the response. Shahril Ishak (Home United, #17) found Ludovick with a pass to the right flank, who drifted to the middle with the ball before setting up a through ball which beat the offside trap. Support striker Kornprom Jaroonpong (Home United, #9) was preparing to shoot, but Woodlands keeper Yazid Yasin (#1) was quickest to smother the ball at his feet.

10 minutes later, it was Ludovick again. A long hopeful cross-ball somehow found the lurking forward, but again, Yazid Yasin was alert to the task, getting to the ball first.

31 minutes on, Woodlands had two striking chances within a minute. The first was a sliding shot by Fadzuhasny, requiring a reflex save from the keeper, which rebounded and found the same striker, who ballooned his subsequent shot to groans from the crowd.

Home United made them pay for that miss in the 39th minute with the equalizer. National midfielder Shi Jiayi found some space 20 yards out and fired a low shot to the left of the goal, which somehow squeezed through the keeper’s fingers and the right post. He flapped his jersey in celebration, but Home United knew that they had to get more to keep up with leaders SAFFC.

That lead almost came in the 43rd minute through Ludovick again. A through ball by captain Peres de Oliveira (Home United, #20) nutmegged a Woodlands defender, finding the Ludovik in the box. He composed himself and hammered the ball, but the keeper was equal to it, diving acrobatically to the right to push the ball away for a corner.

In the second half, it was Home United on the offensive again. At the 48th-minute mark, Peres de Oliveira threaded a pass to Shi Jiayi on the right, who bore down on goal before pulling it back to the five yard box. But the pass was too strong for any of the Home attackers.

After 51 minutes, the tiring Fadzuhasny of Woodlands, who has scored only a singular goal all season, was replaced by midfielder Kamal Nasir as the hosts shifted to a 5-4-1 formation.

Home United tried not to let the more defensive stance affect them though, as they struck in the 58th minute. A pass by Ludovick in the box found left-back Juma’at Jantan (Home United, #4) to tap into the net, but the goal was chalked off for an offside.

Home United tried their best to prise open the Woodlands defence, but found it difficult as the hosts stayed compact and were looking to counter at every opportunity.

Such strategy worked well for the hosts after 66 minutes, where some good work by Park Tae Won on the right flank resulted in a pass which deceived the Home defenders. The ball found marksman Laakad Abdelhadi (Woodlands Wellington, #9) with only the keeper to beat. However, he contrived to shoot way over when it was easier to score. It was a glaring miss for the off-form striker who has scored only six goals this season compared to the 15 he slammed in during his previous campaign.

At the 73rd minute though, Woodlands’ captain Akihiro Nakamura showed everyone how it was to be done. With the Home defence backpedalling as he approached the goal, the midfielder decided to try a stiff low shot which eluded the keeper on his right to make it 2-1 to Woodlands. It was a goal thoroughly deserved by the hosts, who executed their tactics well and kept the Home attack at bay with some decisive defending.

Home coach PN Sivaji went to the touchline to try and rouse his troops into action, for they needed to score two more goals to stay in the running for the Championship race.

That response though, was found wanting, as the Protectors found it difficult to garner any meaningful shot on the Woodlands goal. Their opponents though, were high on confidence as key player Park Tae Won seemed to be on a one-man mission to notch his 100th goal, seeing two mazy run-and-shoot attempts from the right just whizzing past the left post in quick succession, much to the excitement from the home fans.

Home United were bereft of ideas as the clock ticked town and their opponents just sat back in numbers to contain their moves. At the 88th minute, they earned a free kick just outside the box, but the shot by Peres de Oliveira summed up Home’s performance, as it ballooned disappointingly over.

Even after a generous four minutes of injury time, Home United could not muster any meaningful effort against their ‘bogey’ team, who had beaten them in the final few stages of 2006 and 2007 seasons, and soon after, the final whistle came.

The players could not hide their disappointment at the loss, but they only had themselves to blame for a lacklustre performance which seriously questioned their title credentials.

With this loss, SAFFC now have a chance to open up a four-point gap between them and Home United. However, all is not lost as both uniformed groups will square off on November 14 at Jalan Besar, a match which the Protectors will have to win to have any chance of grabbing the title which has eluded them since 2003.

Final Score
Woodlands Wellington: 2
Park Tae Won 12′, Akihiro Nakamura 73′
Home United: 1
Shi Jiayi 34′

Line-up
Woodlands Wellington
1 Yazid Yasin (GK)
3 Azlan Alipah
4 Azmi Mahamud
6 Lucian Dronca
7 Fadzuhasny Juraimi (5 Kamal Nasir 54′)
8 Jerry Bartholomeusz (13 Anaz Hadee 83′)
9 Abdelhadi Laakkad
10 Akihiro Nakamura (C)
14 Sazali Salleh (12 Ismadi Mukhtar 67′)
18 Park Tae Won
19 Zahid Ahmad
Subs not used: Shahri Musa, Syaiful Iskandar, Ahmadulhaq Che Omar, Hilmi Azman

Home United
18 Lionel Lewis (GK)
4 Juma’at Jantan
7 Shi Jiayi
9 Kornprom Jaroonpong (2 Farhan Farook 76′)
10 Kengne Ludovick
11 Syed Fadhil
13 Valery Hiek
14 Rosman Sulaiman
17 Shahril Ishak
19 Walid Lounis
20 Peres de Oliveira (C)
Subs not used: Ridzuan Fatah Hassan, Shahril Alias, Ram Shanker, Khairul Anwar Hanafi, Shukor Zailan, Nurhilmi Jasni

Cautions
Woodlands Wellington: Fadzuhasny Juraimi 45′, Azlan Alipah 77′, Zahid Ahmad 79′, Abdelhadi Laakkad 84′, Azmi Mahamud 89′
Home United: Kornprom Jaroonpong 43′

Expulsions
Woodlands Wellington: nil
Home United: nil

Match Officials
Referee: Abdul Malik Bashir
Asst Referee 1: Jeffrey Goh
Asst Referee 2: Nazeer Hussain
Fourth Official: Leow Thiam Hoe
Match Commissioner: Koh Wee Kiat

Attendance: 1,561