VietNamNet Bridge – A shocking 3-3 draw against 11th-place Dong Tam Long An lost Hanoi T&T the top spot, which passed to Becamex Binh Duong as the 20th round of the 2014 V-League wrapped up over the weekend. The following are the five main highlights from this round of play.

Becamex Binh Duong (in red) snatch the top spot from Hanoi T&T in the 20th round.

1. Hanoi fall, Binh Duong take top spot

Defending champions Hanoi T&T were deprived of the V-League’s top spot by challengers Becamex Binh Duong after drawing 3-3 with underdogs Dong Tam Long An on Sunday. Binh Duong overcame Hoang Anh Gia Lai 4-1 to equal Hanoi’s 39 points, and now reign over the provisional standings thanks to a better goal difference. The opportunity for the overall title is now equal for both teams as they have just a few rounds left to play.

2. Hoang Anh Gia Lai fail to defend third place

The opportunity to defend their V-League third-place finish was missed by Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) after they lost 1-4 to Binh Duong on July 6. Despite enjoying a good start to this year’s season, HA. GL, one of the favourites for this year’s title, slid disappointingly in the last stage, as the meeting with Binh Duong was their fifth consecutive game without a victory. The team currently rank eighth with 19 points, and the remaining four rounds are not enough for them to enter top three as current third-place team Thanh Hoa hold 36 points.

3. An Giang, Long An earn one point each

Bottom-placed Hung Vuong An Giang and the closest team to relegation, Dong Tam Long An, both won an additional point following respective draws against Vicem Hai Phong and Hanoi T&T in the 20th round last weekend. With a gap of just two points, it is really difficult to say which team will have to engage in a play-off match with the third-place finisher of the First Division tournament, XSKT Can Tho, to vie for a berth in the 2015 V-League.

4. Dincic keep Thanh Hoa in top three

Dincic scored a goal in second-half stoppage time to help Thanh Hoa beat QNK Quang Nam 3-2 and maintain their place in the V-League’s top three. Van Tan and Van Ta put Thanh Hoa to a 2-0 lead before Chi Huynh and Almeida equalised for Quang Nam.

5. Foreign strikers overwhelm scoring tally

Despite netting no goals last weekend, foreign strikers continued to prevail in the race for this year’s ‘top-scorer’ title. HA. GL’s Timothy leads the tally with 18 goals, followed by Hanoi T&T’s Samson (17 goals) and Gonzalo (11 goals), and Abass of Becamex Binh Duong (10 goals).

Source: Nhan Dan