Albirex bounce back in style

SINGAPORE - ALBIREX NIIGATA 4

(Kazuki Sakamoto 10, 68, Kazuya Okazaki 57, Shuhei Hotta 68) HOME UNITED 2

(Lee Kwan Woo 77, 90+2)

Kazuki Sakamoto inspired Albirex Niigata to a 4-2 win over Home United, scoring a brace at the Jurong East Stadium last night.

The White Swans recovered from a 4-0 thrashing by Warriors FC on April 16 in fine fashion and are now fifth on the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League table, level on points with fourth-placed Home at 16.

With the Protectors mostly restricted to shots from long range, Albirex head coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama was pleased with the way his side nullified their opponents' attacking prowess.

At the post-match press conference, Okuyama said: "Today was an important game for us as we have to win to stay in a good position on the table.

"We knew that Home are a good team, so we tried to stop them from playing while playing to our strengths."

Clashes between the two sides usually yield goals and entertainment - and this match was no different.

The hosts drew first blood after 10 minutes when livewire midfielder Kento Nagasaki's cross from the left was turned in by Sakamoto from close range.

Their lead was doubled on 57 minutes when Kazuya Okazaki ran from his own half to latch onto a long ball before rounding a marooned Shahril Jantan to put the ball into an empty net.

Nagasaki then fed Sakamoto again four minutes later as his pass freed the striker, who cut in from the left to finish coolly.

Albirex completed their scoring on 68 minutes when Shahril parried a Sakamoto header from a corner, only for a lurking Shuhei Hotta to poke home.

While Home pulled two goals back through Lee Kwan Woo specials from long range, it was too little too late for the Protectors.

While he felt that his defence was poor, Home coach Lee Lim Saeng took responsibility for his side's defeat.

He said: "We had chances but we didn't score and our defence couldn't cope with Albirex's attack.

"I want to take responsibility for this defeat and we must prepare well for our next game."

● ALBIREX NIIGATA: Kazuki Kishigami, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Soichiro Tanaka, Shuhei Hotta, Koki Akasaka, Keisuke Ota, Kosuke Matsuda, Kazuya Okazaki (Hiroki Morisaki 77), Kento Nagasaki, Kazuki Sakamoto (Yusuke Ueda 85)

● HOME UNITED: Shahril Jantan, Juma'at Jantan, Ismail Yunos, Kwon Dak Yung, Sirina Camara, Precious Emuejeraye (Yasir Hanapi 46), Izzdin Shafiq (Ahmed Fahmie 84), Lee Kwan Woo, Bruno Castanheira, Qiu Li (Indra Sahdan 46), Fazrul Nawaz

TNP MAN OF THE MATCH: Kento Nagasaki

LEADING SCORERS 9: Rodrigo Antonio Tosi (DPMM) 8: Roy O'Donovan (DPMM), Geison Moura (Hougang) 7: Kazuki Sakamoto (Albirex), Miroslav Pejic (Warriors), Nicholas Velez (Warriors) 6: Goran Ljubojevic (Balestier), Miljan Mrdakovic (Tampines) 5: Leo Felice (Geylang), Diego Oliviera (Hougang)

UPCOMING FIXTURES Wednesday: ● BALESTIER v HARIMAU MUDA B (Toa Payoh Stadium, 7.30pm) ● WOODLANDS v BRUNEI DPMM (Woodlands Stadium, 7.30pm) Thursday: ● GEYLANG v TANJONG PAGAR (Bedok Stadium, 7.30pm) ● TAMPINES v ALBIREX (Clementi Stadium, 7.30pm) Friday: ● HOUGANG v COURTS Y LIONS (Hougang Stadium, 7.30pm) ● WARRIORS v HOME (LIVE on StarHub TV Ch 201 & 76.25MHz, Jalan Besar Stadium, 7.30pm)

This article was published on April 28 in The New Paper.

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