VietNamNet Bridge – Song Lam Nghe An supporters converted the Thong Nhat Stadium into their home ground as they made the most of the venue, turning it yellow under the colour of their club uniform.

Sai Gon FC players celebrates after a scoring against Song Lam Nghe An in the V.League match on March 12. Sai Gon won 3-1. — Photo tuoitre.vn

However, the crowds of nearly 10,000 failed to help their team avoid a 1-3 defeat to Sai Gon FC at the V.League’s round nine matches yesterday in HCM City.

The supporters from Nghe An Province, but living and working in the city and surrounding localities, marched on the streets heading to the stadium. They were joined by many foreigners who came to the stadium hours prior to the match to encourage the former champions, who have had a poor season.

The fervent cheering of the fans played a key role promoting the spirits of sides.

The hosts, Sai Gon, needed only seven minutes to find the opener.

Quoc Long brought a ball to a space between Song Lam Nghe An’s defenders Que Ngoc Hai and Hoang Van Khanh in the central area. Nguyen Ngoc Duy sprinted to steal the ball and ran solo to face goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh. He made no mistake in scoring.

The early goal confused Song Lam Nghe An’s line-up and kept their supporters silent.

But it was not enough for the hosts, who doubled the score just 10 minutes later.

Patrick dos Sanros Cruz met no challenge, as he moved from the home side area to Song Lam Nghe An’s box, before Manh suffer the second goal loss.

Song Lam Nghe An tried to rearrange their team and pushed more attacks.

They found a goal to narrow the result three minutes later, when a host defender let his hand touch the ball in the box.

Tran Phi Son then netted for the visitors.

But the gap was re-set near the interval.

Nguyen Xuan Duong ran from behind to receive a ball and left some Song Lam Nghe An’s players behind before making a straight shot to the far corner of goalie Manh, who has not qualified for Viet Nam national team for the 2019 Asian Cup qualification because of his red card at the ASEAN Football Federation Cup last December.

Ten minutes rest was not enough for the visitors to find a suitable way to break Sai Gon’s net again.

Their attempts were easily blocked.

Meanwhile, Sai Gon intended to play in defence to protect their lead.

The win ended their six-match streak in which they did not win and lifted them to No 9 in the ranking table.

On the other side, Song Lam Nghe An received their fourth loss and remain at No 12.

In the earlier game of the round, leader FLC Thanh Hoa remained the only undefeated team of the tournament, after a 0-0 draw against Hai Phong at Lach Tray Stadium.

Both sides created a number of opportunities, but their players failed to converted to goals.

“Thanh Hoa has changed a lot since they began playing under Petrovic. He is a coach from a football community that is at a higher level than Viet Nam. Therefore, when they (Thanh Hoa) have set a target for a match, they know how to complete it,” said coach Truong Viet Hoang of Hai Phong.

“I believed that Thanh Hoa wanted one point from this match, and they did it. I must confirm that beating Thanh Hoa at this time is a big job for every team,” he added.

Coach Petrovic said he watched Hai Phong carefully before the match. He knew the three key players on the team and asked his players to work hard to prevent them from playing well. The Serbian trainer was satisfied with what his team did, including the young members who played their first V.league game.

He said there was almost no common points in football between Viet Nam and Europe, but he wanted Thanh Hoa to play the same as English Premier League champions Leicester City.

Players needed to unite and work for a common target. That is how to have winning results at the end of the season, he said.

Thanh Hoa collected 19 points and stands firmly at the top of the table.

Hai Phong are in fourth with 14 points.

Thanh Hoa will next visit defending champions Ha Noi FC, while Hai Phong travels to play HCM City.

VNS