Written by: Dwayne James

Home United FC coach Philippe Aw was proud of his charges for their never-say-die attitude after fighting back to draw 4-4 against leaders Brunei DPMM.

The Protectors were on the verge of having their seven-game unbeaten run in the league snapped before coming back strongly in the final 10 minutes.

“The boys never gave up and the fighting spirit was there. Sadly for us, we conceded the equaliser after getting the lead,” Aw said.

“Overall it was a fair game to end like this. Brunei DPMM came into this game very determined from the start and they were pressing us well.

“I’m very happy the boys as they never gave up. We could have stolen three points today (Saturday) but overall it was a fair result.”

With the 4-4 draw, DPMM have failed to defeat Home in all three league meetings this year. Aw is delighted with that stat and also believes that the title race is still wide open.

“This season Brunei have proven they are a quality team and it is good that we never lost to them in the league,” Aw stated.

“There are still a few more games to go and for me I still believe that the title race is not over.”

On the other hand, Brunei DPMM coach Steve Kean was left scratching his head on their collapse but is relieved to at least get a point out of the match.

“We had a crazy six to seven minutes,” Kean said. “We started the second half very well and soon when it got to 3-1, for some strange reason we wanted to score a fourth goal and a fifth goal when we didn’t really need to.

“It then sets up the counter attacks for Home United where they probably had six to seven chances in six minutes just because we tried to get another goal.

“We were a little bit naive as we were trying to score again. When they were on the counter attack we weren’t getting our tackles in to slow the game,” he added.

“Once the second goal went in they got nothing to lose and threw everything at it. Instead we had to rescue a point which is crazy.”

Brunei DPMM do not have much time to dwell on the letdown as they face Hougang United on Tuesday and Kean believes they will turn it around quickly.

“With six minutes to go, I thought we had the points in the bag. We need to learn from that,” Kean explained.

“It wasn’t a case where there was danger. That freekick goal was a poor one from our point of view and they ended up getting even more.

“But we will be fine and pick ourselves up. We didn’t lose which is a positive and we are still in a strong position,” concluded the Scotsman.