Written By: Kenneth Ho
After a three-game winless streak, Home United coach Lee Lim Saeng expressed his relief at his team getting a 2-0 win over Loyola Meralco Sparks FC in the first leg of the RHB Singapore Cup quarter finals.
“I am happy to see my players perform, I want to give credit to my opponents. They tried their best,” Lee expressed.
“Every game we had chances, unfortunately we couldn’t finish the chances in the last three games, but they scored in the second half that’s why I am happy to see that. I hope we keep this form until the last minute.”
Despite the win, Lee urged caution as there was a return leg for his team to go through.
“We beat our opponents tonight but we still have a one more game to reach the semi-finals so we will do our best,” he said.
Loyola Meralco coach Vincent Santos admitted his side were second best in this encounter, but shared that it was hard to accept after they had held Home United back for an hour before Baba Sampana committed an error to gift Home the opener.
Sampana had done well to keep Home at bay before he contrived to clear the ball towards Lee Kwan Woo, and the Home United midfielder promptly sent in a cross for Qiu Li to slot home.
“We worked so hard to keep a clean sheet to give it up on our own error was difficult,” Santos lamented. “It was mentally difficult to stay focus after conceding such a goal, I think it showed in the second goal, we weren’t able to refocus or reorganised properly.”
“Until we conceded a goal, I think we stayed disciplined. Obviously it’s not the usual lineup that we would like to have but up to that point, we were alright.
“Maybe if we were a little sharper on some chances it could have been the other way around for Home United,” added Santos.