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Duric brace puts Warriors on the brink
Fabius Chen
info@sleague.com
SAFFC moved to within touching distance of a fourth consecutive Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League title following a narrow 2-1 victory over Albirex Niigata (Singapore) at Choa Chu Kang Stadium on Wednesday.
The result leaves the Warriors needing just four points from their remaining five matches to once again be crowned champions.
League top scorer Aleksandar Duric scored both his side’s goals, taking his season’s tally in the league to 26 and condemning the White Swans to a fourth defeat at the hands of the Warriors this season.
Ryohei Maeda pulled a goal back for the visitors with five minutes remaining to spark off a frantic finale that ultimately proved to be in vain.
Having been on the wrong end of a 6-0 hiding when they visited the same ground back in March, Albirex started with a defensive-looking formation designed for the team to play on the break.
And they very nearly took an early lead in the eighth minute, thanks to some sloppy defending by the Warriors’ Daniel Bennett.
The Singapore international was outmuscled by Tetsuya Kishida in his own penalty area, but the White Swans skipper could only direct his effort straight at Shahril Jantan in the SAFFC goal.
It was a frustrating opening period for the home side, who were seeing plenty of possession but with their opponents keeping their discipline in defence, were finding it hard to create any clear cut chances.
In fact, it was the visitors that came close again as Akira Takase’s left-foot curler looked like it would sneak in at Shahril’s far post before flying just wide of the mark.
But a lapse in concentration at the back would cost Albirex dearly, as the Warriors took the lead after 17 minutes.
Mustaqim Manzur’s cross from the left was missed by three White Swans defenders, before Duric slammed the ball past Yoshito Matsushita with an emphatic first-time strike.
Albirex came close to levelling the score just four minutes later, but Takase’s effort once again whizzed just past the post with Shahril left completely stranded.
With barely a half hour gone, the visitors made a change in their goalkeeping department, with Jun Kochi coming on for Matsushita.
Albirex coach Naoki Naruo later explained that Matsushita had picked up an elbow injury in training, although he had had little to do up till that point in the match that might have aggrevated it.
The newcomer was in the thick of the action right away, as he came for a Shaiful Esah corner, flapped at the ball and ultimately had his defenders to thank as they cleared the danger.
As the half wore on, the visitors began to come into the game more and gave the Warriors another scare just before the break.
Following some good build-up play down the right flank, Takase crossed the ball to the middle for Kishida, who saw his acrobatic effort well dealt with by Shahril.
But coming out of the half-time break, it was the Warriors who created the first real chance of the second period.
Duric’s mis-hit shot fell to John Wilkinson on the edge of the six-yard box, but the English-born midfielder’s shot on the turn was straight at Kochi.
What followed was a spell of rather uninspiring football, with neither side looking like they had a second gear to shift into on this particular evening.
But the home side eventually doubled their advantage in the 71st minute, thanks to more uncertainty in the Albirex defence.
Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin lofted a high cross into the White Swans penalty area, but with neither goalkeeper nor defender taking the initiative to attack the ball, Duric was left with a simple volley to effectively kill the game off.
Or at least, it looked that way.
Albirex stepped up a notch in the final ten minutes of the match, as if they suddenly realised that at 0-2 down, they had nothing to lose.
The Warriors were given a warning when Taisuke Akiyoshi laid the ball off for Kishida, but the White Swans captain’s clever effort flew just over the crossbar.
With five minutes left on the watch, the visitors pulled a goal back.
Off a throw-in from the right, Akiyoshi produced a magical little flick and when the ball arrived at the feet of Maeda, he needed no second invitation, drilling a shot past Shahril’s despairing dive to give his side a lifeline.
Sensing that their hosts were rattled, Albirex started to push forward at every opportunity, chasing what had looked like a very unlikely point just five minutes earlier.
They came agonisingly close in the 90th minute, as Takase cut inside his marker just inside the SAFFC penalty box and unleashed a right-foot shot that beat Shahril but came back off the far post and away to safety.
There would be even greater agony for the White Swans, however, in the fourth and final minute of injury time.
Takase raced clear of the Warriors defence to face Shahril one-on-one but with the option of playing the ball to his teammate in the centre, the 21-year-old went for glory and ended up sending his shot well over the bar, taking with it his side’s hope of salvaging a point.
It was an extraordinary end to the match; one that left Takase’s coach Naruo rueing the misssed chance.
“He could have passed the ball but he chose to shoot,” the Albirex coach said after the match.
“Our finishing is something that we need to improve.”
Naruo also defended the decision to start with Matsushita, in spite of the goalkeeper’s injury.
“He’s done well in the previous couple of matches so he wanted to keep playing,” he explained.
For his Warriors counterpart Richard Bok, it was a matter of thanking his lucky stars following the narrow escape right at the end of the match.
“We were very lucky,” he said, echoing the sentiments on everyone’s mind.
“Albirex really pushed us to our limits today; they had a lot of energy and excellent off-the-ball movement.”
The result was made that much sweeter by the fact that it was achieved in the absence of influential Thai playmaker Therdsak Chaiman, who sat out Wednesday’s match with an illness.
Bok noted: “We missed Therdsak today but I think we put in more team effort and did well without him.
“Our delivery into the box was generally very good, especially with the second goal; although we maybe could have created more chances.
“But at this stage of the season, the three points are very important and I’m happy to take them.”
Three points that, it might be added, put the Warriors within two matches of sealing an unequalled fourth straight title. |
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