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Bittersweet win for Home as injured goalkeeper Hassan is rushed to hospital

SINGAPORE - It took 12 games but Albirex Niigata’s (S) unbeaten run in the Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League finally came to an end on Friday night, thanks to two goals by Home United sharpshooter Stipe Plazibat.

Faris Ramli (right) looking away in disbelief after missing a scoring chance against Albirex. Photo: S.League

Faris Ramli (right) looking away in disbelief after missing a scoring chance against Albirex. Photo: S.League

SINGAPORE - It took 12 games but Albirex Niigata’s (S) unbeaten run in the Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League finally came to an end on Friday night, thanks to two goals by Home United sharpshooter Stipe Plazibat.

But it also proved to be a bittersweet 2-0 win for the Protecters though as they also saw their goalkeeper Hassan Sunny sustaining a serious injury right before half time.

Hassan hurt himself when he collided with Naofumi Tanaka in the air during a free-kick. Both players were rushed off to hospital but the Singapore international seemed to come off worse from the incident.

“I spoke to the doctor just now and he said Hassan broke his nose and dislocated his shoulder.” said Home head coach Aidil Sharin aftr the game.

“My mind is not about the victory right now. It is about Hassan. I am going to the hospital to see how bad it is.”

That incident aside, the game was filled with end-to-end action as two of the most in-form teams in Singapore showed why they were a cut above the rest in the league.

Faris Ramli had the first sniff at goal in the 11th minute but his venomous shot from Plazibat’s pass was parried away by Yosuke Nozawa.

Kento Nagasaki could have made Faris pay for the miss three minutes later. But with just the empty goal to aim at, the midfielder took one too many touches as Sirina Camara quickly intervened with a well-timed interception.

The dead-lock was finally broken in the 31st minute by Plazibat. The Croatian was unmarked as he made no mistake in burying Izzdin Shafiq’s corner that took a nick from Abdil Qayyim’s headed pass.

The second half started brightly and continued the tempo set in the first half.

Once again, Faris could have influenced the score line from the restart. However, his well-timed run that led to him in a one-on-one situation with Nozawa but he let himself down with a poor finish that went yards off.

Unlike their previous encounter with Home earlier in the season when they snatched a 2-2 draw after trailing 0-2, Albirex were unable to mount a comeback this time.

Their night deteriorated further when defender Yasutaka Yanagi was sent off for bringing down Faris.

Despite being down to 10 men, Albirex still took the game to Home but were not able to find the net. Even in-form striker and league’s top-scorer Tsubasa Sano fired blanks as he skied a shot from five yards out, eight minutes before the end of the game.

To run salt into Albirex’s wounds, Plazibat secured his brace when he put away a penalty in the dying minutes.

Home’s victory means that they are now five points behind the White Swans with a game in hand.

“We kept winning, so there was pressure,” said Albirex coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga.

“In this game, we didn’t play well in the first half but were better in the second. We got a red card but our players showed effort to try to get the equaliser.”

He added: “We can learn something from this, we just keep doing the same as before and learn from this game to improve.”

Aidil said: “This result is good for us and Tampines. We are closer to Albirex and the players’ morale will be better.”

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