Jakarta Casual

A funeral atmosphere last night at the Woodlands Stadium in the north of the island. A couple of years back Woodlands were known for a relatively raucous home support but judging by last night they all seem to have found new hobbies. Perhaps they go to night clubs to listen to loud music, hooked by their times on the terraces.

Home took a long time to turn their possession into goals but once they did there was only ever one outcome. Kenji Arai scored first, a header from a corner.

Early in the second half Woodlands equalized from the spot after a Home United defender had pulled down an opponent in the box. Moments later the ref pointed to the spot again but the crowd had woken up by this time, he spoke to the linesman and gave a free kick on the edge of the box.

Home United, in fine form this season having netted 40 goals in their first 16 games, took over and in a nine minute spell scored three times. First it was their turn to get a penalty, Qiu Li converting. Then Frederic Mendy rose high to make it 3-1 with all four goals coming from set pieces and scored by foreigners.

Luckily Madhu Mohana showed not only that Singaporeans could score goals but they could do it from open play. Shame it was an own goal. Qiu Li finished the rout in injury time finishing after a fine run.

Following Tampines loss against SAFFC the night before Home are now just a point behind the leaders with a better goal difference. As for Woodlands, they were limited to long range shots second half, lacking the necessary guile and spark to work their way into the box and fashion opportunities.

1- Tampines 17 12 3 2 39-14 39

2- Home United 17 12 2 3 45-16 38

3- SAFFC 16 11 2 3 33-17 35

# posted by Me @ 9:03 AM