Caption: Adi Said on the ball against Albirex Niigata FC (S) last night. Picture: Courtesy of Ortus Media
Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
DPMM FC slipped to their eighth defeat of their S.League season after losing 4-0 to defending champions Albirex Niigata FC (S) last night at the Jurong East Stadium in Singapore.
The win extends the Japanese side’s unbeaten run in the competition to 11 games while DPMM FC remain second from bottom in the nine-team table with four points from 10 matches.
Vincent Salas (R) in action against Albirex Niigata FC (S). Picture: Courtesy of Ortus Media
DPMM FC Steve Kean coach made several changes to the lineup giving debuts to new signings Daud Gazale, Vincent Salas and Md Haizul Rani Metussin.
Third choice goalkeeper Ak Md Mu'izzuddin Pg Ismail and defender Md Hanif Hamir were also given their first appearances for the team.
According to the S.League Twitter updates, the White Swans needed only nine minutes to grab the lead after Tsubasa Sano beat the offside trap before slotting it past Mu’izuddin.
DPMM FC were on target in the 26th minute with Gazale firing on the turn but Albirex custodian Yosuke Nozawa dived down to make the save.
Salas then produced a good pass to find Adi Said two minutes later but the latter fired straight at Nozawa.
Albirex doubled their lead in the 34th minute after Ryota Nakai poked home a cross from the right.
Adi then stole the ball off Yasutaka Yanagi three minutes later but his shot went just wide.
It took Albirex five minutes into the second half to add another with Rui Kumada heading home at the far post off a Kento Nagasaki freekick.
An Albirex Niigata FC (S) player shields the ball from Azwan Ali Rahman. Picture: Courtesy of Ortus Media
Haizul came off in the 65th minute allowing the other new signing Hazwan Hamzah to come on.
Gazale then made this way through five minutes later but his low shot was blocked for a corner. Adi then headed just over at the near post from the ensuing corner.
Shoichiro Sakomoto almost got his name on the scoresheet after coming on in the 83rd minute but his effort was tipped over by Mu’izzuddin.
The White Swans added another four minutes from time after DPMM FC failed to clear their lines from a corner allowing Naofumi Tanaka to fire home to complete the win.
DPMM FC coach Steve Kean felt the result was a difficult pill to swallow.
“It was a harsh result for us, the result looked as though we not in the game but I felt that was not the case,” said Kean as quoted on the S.League.
“There was a massive improvement from our last game (a 9-3 defeat to Home United FC), especially in the first half.
“Adi had three really good chances but that said we needed to take our chances against a team like Albirex,” he added.
The other game last night saw a Shahril Ishak double lift Warriors FC to a 2-0 win over Geylang International FC at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
DPMM FC will now have a 16-day break before they spring back into action against Warriors FC at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium in Singapore.
