Written By: Kenneth Ho

Fresh off a 4-2 win over Albirex Niigata on Thursday evening, Home United coach Lee Lim Saeng declared that there was more his side was capable of.

The sentiments of Lee stemmed from the fact that Home had dominated the first-half, which saw them coming back from a goal down to plunder four goals past the White Swans.

However, the second-half saw Home releasing the gas accelerator and slowing the tempo, which allowed Albirex to find a way back into the game with a second goal. Fortunately for the hosts, Home goalkeeper Shahril Jantan did a decent job of preventing more goals from being conceded.

“We want to keep our style of playing until the 90 minutes, sometimes it is very tough. We also created the chances, but couldn’t score,” Lee said

“We need to hold the ball longer in the second half, but we couldn’t do that. We can be better, so we try our best.”

However, Lee still offered his appreciation of his players, and insisted that Home will continue to improve in order to push the title race right till the penultimate match.

“I think the players showed commitment, I really appreciate the players, we beat them 4-2, it is okay, the second half opponent pushed us to score, [but] our players deserve to win this match tonight,” Lee expressed.

“But we are still chasing the top so I will be humble, every match is important for us. We will not give up until the last minute.”

Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama was left stunned after the first-half, especially since his side had grabbed the lead with Kazuya Okazaki’s 2nd minute free kick.

While the White Swans’ coach did feel his side improved after the half, he was unable to comprehend how his side could have played the first-half in such fashion.

“During the halftime I told the players we have to prevent the Home United from receiving the ball from the defence line and midfield. So second half we shuffled a bit.

“I didn’t expect the first half’s [performance], I think we could have done better.”

“We didn’t play well for the first half, I think that’s why we get the result [we got] today, the first half our defence line was very low, I think it is a very disappointing result for us,” Okuyama lamented.