Home United 2-0 New Radiant: Hopes alive for Home United

Apr 09, 2014 - 09:29:20 | Shimaz Ali
Home United won the match by 2-0 and kept their hopes alive to qualify for the second round. (Photo: WSG)

Singapore – Home United of Singapore kept their hopes alive to qualify for the second round of AFC Cup after beating last year’s quarter finalists, New Radiant by 2-0.

Lee Kwan Woo’s corner should have been a routine catch for Mohamed, but he inexplicably dropped the ball and Qiu Li gleefully poked it in from close range to break the deadlock.

Mohamed Umair forced Shahril Jantan into a smart save down low with a curling free-kick near half-time as the visitors tried to rally, with another big chance coming as the hour mark approached.

Ali Fasir was threaded through down the left by Akram Abdul Ghanee’s pass, but the forward drilled a low effort just wide of Shahril’s far post.

A short corner routine on the left was worked to Lee and his delightful ball to the near post was met by an equally fine finish from Castanheira, who got ahead of Mohamed to touch it in.

The danger was still not completely gone from New Radiant, with Umair forcing Shahril to tip over a 30-yard free-kick before Juma’at Jantan had to be alert to clear Hamza Mohamed’s cross off the line.

New Radiant’s coach Simon McMenemy said that they were punished for their mistakes.

“We got punished for mistakes, which can be quite cruel and difficult to take sometimes,” said New Radiant coach McMenemy.

“The goalkeeper had saved us on several occasions last week, but today he dropped the cross at the feet of the striker.

“We didn’t have the luck and were up against experienced players from Home who know how to play the game.”

The win gives the S.League side seven points, level with second-placed Churchill Brothers, who salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to Persipura Jayapura on the night. But the Indian side have a better head-to-head record and Home will need to better their result in the last match day if they are to advance.

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footballmad on Apr 10
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Condolences to NRSC.. Isn't it ironic that so many blame not having Dhagey as the reason for the poor performance and at the same time so many others are asking for dhagey or someone similar to return. It's time to wake up! any club or nation that relies on their faith in a single player cannot achieve progress in the long run. The risk is too much. Look at Italy and Germany- both rely on whole team effort and hence their football history is so impressive. The time has come for NRSC and Maaziya players to be released for the national team to get ready.
MaldiveFan on Apr 10
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Could not have been worse for new radiant. They were unlucky as well. They wanted to do better than last year but then unexpected circumstances got in the way. The forward they were trying to bring in had a fatal car crash, domestic season was postporned, they could not get a player of ashfaq's calibre to get the kind of goals he would score or the encouraging figure that he is. They was no leader in the team to cheer them when the lads were down. Imran the golie is too far from the centre of activity to motivate players. Umair as we saw was still a work in progress, yes he had the chance to shoulder the responsibility but squandered. Better luck next time.
Imma on Apr 10
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People calling Dhagey to come back just reeks of desperation...and hypocrisy. We wanted him to move abroad so that he could push his career to another level. Now that things are not going so well, we suddenly want him back? That's a very selfish opinion to have. We must remember that New Radiant won some very important matches in the AFC Cup without Dhagey last year (at home to Yangon United 3-1 and away at Sun Hei 3-0). Whenever an outsider inquires about Maldivian football, we're always raving about Dhagey and forget everyone else. I am a little guilty of this as well. We simply cannot put all the pressure on his shoulders. He's 28 now and will not be there playing at that level forever. How about we pay a little more respect to the rest of the talent coming through and give them more chances?

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