Written By: Kenneth Ho

Home United coach Philippe Aw felt the Protectors could have picked up three points had they been more clinical in the 2-1 loss to Geylang International.

The Protectors were easily the better side of the two teams, and were carving out chance after chance throughout the match.

However, they were either thwarted by Geylang goalkeeper Yazid Yasin or let down by poor finishing. Home even hit the bar twice through Stanely Ng and Ken Ilso, with their efforts cannoning off the bar.

In the end, all they had to show for was a solitary 41st-minute goal by Ambroise Begue, which was equalised by Kento Fukuda’s header, before Bruno Castanheira scored late on to leave Aw rueing his side’s profligacy.

“In second half we had chances to finish off the game and I felt we needed the second goal to finish it,” Aw said.

“Somehow it didn’t come, these chances hitting the bar and just a case of one set piece and we got punished.”

A red card to goalkeeper Hyrulnizam Juma’at did not help matters too, as Home had to play with nine outfield players after defender Abdil Qaiyyim was sent to stand in goal due to Home using up all their substitute options earlier.

Aw would have taken a point at that time, but unfortunately the result was not as he wanted.

“When you put a centre-back in goal, there’s a limited things he can do,” Aw added.

“At the end of the day… you would have been pleased with one point. Sad to say, we ended up with zero points.”

Geylang coach Jorg Steinebrunner shared that if the result was based on the first half, it would have been a win his side did not deserve.

However, he credited his team for pulling their socks up after the break to come back from a goal behind.

“First half we gave Home United too much space and time, we tried to make things tight in our own half but we couldn’t,” Steinebrunner said.

“The second half we were more aggressive and defensively we didn’t need to change much.

The win propelled Geylang to ninth in the ten-man Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League – the first time since August that the Eagles are not in bottom spot.

However, Steinebrunner warned that things still can change if the Eagles lose focus on their next few games. Hougang United, who are now bottom, are just a point away from them with four games remaining.

“To be very frank, at the moment, it (climbing off the foot of the table) doesn’t matter,” he asserted.

“If it’s the last game, and we are out of the bottom, then we can think about our feelings.

“But it’s not like we are so many points away from not finishing last, and it would be a mistake to think about it now and lose focus.”