Written by: Shawn Lim

Home United’s run of seven games without a win came to an emphatic end on Monday night after they thrashed 10-man Geylang International 5-0 at Bedok Stadium in The New Paper League Cup 2016 Group A clash.

A brace each by Ken Ilso and Shamil Sharif, as well as a goal by Yeo Hai Ngee helped the Protectors picked up their first victory and clean sheet in all competitions since May.

The victory for Home meant that they still stand a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals in spite of a loss to Albirex Niigata (S) in their opening game and only need a point against Balestier Khalsa in their last game to ensure that they secure a place in the next round.

Geylang started on the front foot when Mark Hartmann, who had found the net three times in two consecutive starts before the game, wasted no time in making his presence felt when he swung in a dangerous free-kick and found Yuki Ichikawa on 11 minutes.

However, Home custodian Hyrulnizam Juma’at stood firm to push away the Japanese player’s toe poke at goal.

The Eagles looked shaky at the back though, and was let off the hook two minutes later when Ilso’s low cross into the box was allowed to reach Shamil, but the midfielder curled his shot agonisingly wide of the mark.

Nevertheless, the hosts continued to look dangerous going forward, with Home thankful for two good saves from Hyrulnizam in quick succession.

The goalkeeper first denied Shawal Anuar after the midfielder got on the end of Carlos Delgado’s free-kick, before stopping Shawal again in a similar position after the ball was played back into the box.

Home subsequently broke the deadlock with their next attack in the 21st minute when Shamil sent Song Uiyoung through on goal with a defence-splitting pass.

The Korean’s effort was saved by Hairul Syirhan, but Ichikawa took his time to clear the ball and it was nicked off him by Shamil, who then blasted the ball home.

Song’s snapshot from 20-yards out six minutes later had Hairul scrambling across his goal, but the Korean’s shot was always going wide of the target.

The Protectors then doubled their lead a minute before the interval when Ilso brilliantly executed a half-volley at the far post after smartly twisting his body to reach Shamil’s cross and fire the ball into the back of the net.

The visitors picked up where they had left off after the break and should have added a third on 59 minutes when another one of Shamil’s accurate cross found Ilso at the far post again, but the Dane’s effort cleared the crossbar.

Ilso made up for his miss two minutes later when he was sent through on goal by Ambroise Begue and the Dane curled the ball past the despairing dive of Hairul for his second goal of the night.

Shamil, who was turning in a performance of the highest quality, doubled his goal tally in the 65th minute when he robbed Shariff Samad of the ball and ran unchallenged into the 18-yard box before side-footing the ball into the net to give Home a 4-0 lead.

Hartmann came close to reducing the deficit for the hosts in the 68th minute, but a reflex save from Hyrulnizam at close-range prevented the Filipino’s header from going in.

Geylang’s night took a turn for the worst a minute later when Nor Azli Yusoff received his second yellow of the game for a studs-high challenge.

There was still time for Home to add a fifth goal and they did so right at the death when Yeo, who had replaced Song 20 minutes earlier, was played through on goal by fellow substitute Mahathir Azeman and the 21-year-old slotted the ball past Hairul.

Geylang International coach Hasrin Jailani: “We were second-best in all departments today and it was one of those days that we lost by a bigger margin.

“It won’t be easy against Albirex in the next game. The players need to show character and after a big defeat, it is not easy, but we need to show character to put up a better performance.”

 

Home United coach Philippe Aw: “It is a big and important win for us because we have been on a bad run of results and we haven’t kept a clean sheet in a long, long time.

“Everything went well today because even though we were missing a couple of key players, the players on the field stepped up today, so it was a much-deserved victory.”

Geylang International: Hairul Syirhan (GK), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Yuki Ichikawa, Shariff Samat, Nor Azli Yusoff, Isa Halim (C), Carlos Delgado (Anders Aplin 72′), Shawal Anuar, Stanely Ng (Taufiq Ghani 46′), Umar Akhbar (Indra Sahdan 65′), Mark Hartmann

Home United: Hyrulnizam Juma’at (GK), Redzwan Atan, Juma’at Jantan (C), Sim Teck Yi, Shamil Sharif, Song Uiyoung (Yeo Hai Ngee 70′), Haziq Azman, Aqhari Abdullah, Syahiran Miswan (Toh Kian Keong 85′), Ambroise Begue, Ken Ilso (Mahathir Azeman 77′)