Written by: Muhammad Yazid

Home United climbed to within three points away from the top of the table after their recent 4-0 win over Tanjong Pagar United, who succumbed to their fifth defeat of the season.

The emphatic victory was Home’s third consecutive league win of the season, and they have now remain unbeaten for a month.

A brace by defender Kwon Dakyung and goals from Lee Kwan Woo and Izzdin Shafiq granted Lee Lim Saeng’s side the three points in a relatively lopsided affair at Bishan Stadium on Thursday evening.

It was the visitors who had the brighter start to the game as they came close to scoring in the ninth minute through Monsef Zerka as the skipper had time and space on his side but he curled his shot just over the bar.

The Protectors responded well as they started settling into the game and raised the curtains in the 29th minute through former South Korean international Lee after Qiu Li was brought down at the edge of the penalty area.

The 36-year-old’s free-kick from 20 yards out caught Herisson off-guard as the custodian was unable to prevent the Korean from sweetly curling his shot into the near-post.

The visitors were hoping for a better second half and almost equalised three minutes after the interval. Zerka’s 30-yard free-kick was heading towards the top corner, but Home custodian Shahril Jantan acrobatically pushed it wide.

The Protectors had other ideas as they doubled their lead within the next minute when Bruno Castanheira’s finish was cleared off the line by Ruzaini Zainal for a corner.

From the resulting corner, Lee turned scorer-provider as his inswinging corner met the head of his South Korean compatriot Kwon Dakyung to double the deficit.

It  was still not enough for Home as they killed off the visitors with a third goal in the 57th minute through Kwon.

The centre-back’s quick free-kick from 60 yards out caught everyone by surprise, including Herisson, who allowed the dipping shot to loop past him.

The Jaguars tried to grab a consolation goal to salvage some pride but it would prove to be in vain as their efforts backfired.

Sebastien Etiemble’s back-to-back attempts did not find the back of the net as his left-footed shot clipped off the crossbar, before his low effort was saved by the legs of Shahril.

The game was paused for a few minutes in the 68th minute for the safety of all players as the Lightning Warning System activated.

The restart did not affect Home’s tempo and momentum of the game as they added the icing on the cake in the 73rd minute.

Substitute Indra Sahdan’s low cross evaded  the Tanjong Pagar defence and the lurking Bruno, but Izzdin Shafiq was there to meet his delivery as the former LionsXII  player cleanly slotted home for his second goal in as many games.