Written by: Dwyane James

Home United FC ended Brunei DPMM’s five-game home winning streak in the Great Eastern Yeo’s S-League after edging them 3-2 at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on Friday night.

Bruno Castanheira opened the scoring early in the game while Singapore international Qiu Li grabbed a brace. Rodrigo Tosi and Boris Raspudic managed to sneak a goal each but it was a mere consolation as DPMM succumbed to their first back-to-back defeat of the season.

Despite the loss, Steve Kean’s charges remained at the top of the table on 31 points, a point ahead of second place Warriors FC who overcame Harimau Muda 4-2 a day earlier.

The Protectors (Home’s nickname) coach Lee Lim Saeng knew that only three points would keep them in the title race and his charges dominated the proceedings in the early going.

They took the lead in the 13th minute with Qiu Li, who missed their first meeting due to suspension, putting Bruno Castanheira through on goal.

The Japanese forward rounded the onrushing Wardun Yussof to give the visitors the lead in the 13th minute.

Home had a chance to double their advantage in the 30th minute with midfielder Lee Kwan Woo feeding Indra Shahdan but Wardun did well to get a hand to deny the visitors’ striker.

The home team started to pick up late in the opening half and their first real chance came in the 40th  minute.

Azwan Ali had picked out captain Rosmin Kamis down the left flank, who delivered a perfect cross into the Home box.

Shahrazen Said, who got his first start of the season in place of the suspended Roy O’Donovan, connected on the cross but his effort was just wide off the right post.

Two minutes later, Shahrazen had his shot saved by Shahril Jantan in between the Protectors’ sticks but the ball only got to as far as Rodrigo Tosi.

The Brazilian rifled in the rebound only to see it bounce off the crossbar to the crowd’s dismay.

Tosi should have equalised just before the end of the first half after heading Azwan Ali’s cross but Shahril was to his equal for an acrobatic save to keep the score at 1-0 going into the break.

The Protectors needed only six minutes into the second half to double their lead with Qiu Li slotting a low shot past Wardun.

Roberto Alviz almost pulled one back for Brunei DPMM immediately but Shahril was up to the task to parry his shot in a one-on-one situation.

There were concerns for DPMM after Tosi picked up a head injury in the 54th minute.

The Brazilian did return and in the 62nd minute pulled one back, his 13th of the campaign, for the league leaders to make it 2-1 after heading home Azwan Ali’s corner.

DPMM continued to pile the pressure on the visitors but Home would kill the momentum off midway in the second half.

Shahril had gone down for treatment in the 77th minute and while the Brunei-side players were having a water break, they were caught out as the match had restarted.

Qiu Li took advantage of the situation, skipped past his defender and rounded Wardun for his brace two minutes later.

DPMM dug deep and eventually got back to striking distance after Bosnian defender Boris Raspudic headed in Rosmin’s freekick from the right to make it 3-2 in the 84th minute.

The win for the Protectors see them climb up to third place with 27 points, four points behind DPMM.