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Park to the fore as Dalian stay winless
Elwyn Lee
info@sleague.com
Park Tae Won’s second half goal sealed Woodlands Wellington’s first victory of the season, and also ensured Dalian Shide Siwu are yet to get off the points mark after their third straight defeat.
A scrappy but eventful encounter at the Woodlands stadium also produced two red cards, a missed penalty for Dalian and a dislocated shoulder suffered by goalscorer Park.
The visiting Chinese side, with an average age of 18, started ambitiously as they went forward in search of goals. After three minutes Zhao Honglue had his shot parried by Rams keeper Yazid Yasin.
Dalian dominated the first half hour, but wayward finishing meant that Yazid was not often troubled.
After a prolonged period of unworthy attempts going forward, Woodlands finally managed to string together a penetrative move after 27 minutes.
Captain Akihiro Nakamura, Park and Laakkad Abdelhadi combined to feed Fadzuhasny Juraimi at the top of the box, who in turn laid it off for an onrushing Jerry Bartholomeusz on the right.
But with the attacking quartet arriving in the box, veteran defender Bartholomeusz was unable to produce the needed quality of cross.
Having found some momentum, the Rams had another good foray into the opponent’s box minutes later. Laakkad eased a pass inside the Dalian box for the lurking Lucian Dronca, but the Romanian’s shot was deflected away.
Woodlands came close just before the break when Park floated a cross for Fadzuhasny, whose connecting header flew just over Dalian custodian Wang Guoming’s crossbar.
And the home side continued their attacking endeavour after half-time, bringing a period of incessant pressure down to bear upon the Chinese, who were showing a measure of defensive steel despite their inexperience.
The great wall of Dalian eventually gave way in the 58th minute when Fadzuhasny laid off well for Laakkad in the box, the Moroccan catching his marker off-guard as he played the ball to Park who was coming down from the right. With only the 18-year-old Wang in between him and the opener, Park coolly lifted his effort over the custodian and into goal.
Dalian were determined not to capitulate though, and defender Zheng Jianfeng was denied only by Yazid’s acrobatic save in the 65th minute.
But the Chinese side were hit with their third red card in consecutive games, Li Zhichao being given his second yellow card by referee Abdul Malik Bashir for punching the ball into the back of the net 12 minutes from the end.
Undaunted by the numerical disadvantage, midfielder Li Yunting set up Jiang Jihong in the 84th minute, but Jiang’s header rebounded off the frame of Yazid’s goal and away to safety.
Two minutes later it was Woodlands’ turn to see red as defender Dronca was dismissed for a stamp on a Dalian man inside the box. Referee Malik was in clear view of the incident as he sent Dronca off without hesitation, while pointing to the penalty spot.
But Dalian spurned the opportunity to earn their first S.League point as the resulting penalty by Zhao Honglue was palmed away by Yazid.
Goalscorer Park’s evening ended on a painful note as he dislocated his left shoulder after an awkward fall in injury-time.
“The team’s thoughts and my thoughts are with Park now. We’re happy for the three points, but not to lose sight of the human factor, we are anxious about Park’s condition,” said Woodlands coach Jorg Steinebrunner.
Over at the Dalian camp, coach Pei Yongjiu was taking his team’s third consecutive defeat in his stride.
“I am not disappointed with the losing result because my players played well, but we were unlucky. We are aware that getting points off teams like Woodlands or the other strong teams will not be easy but we will get stronger and better results will follow,” said Pei.
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