Vietnam Petro Vietnam Gas V-League 2007, week 19: Binh Duong hold on to comfortable lead

Becamex Binh Duong continued their impressive run with a 2-0 win over former champions Song Lam Nghe An in what is developing into a one-horse race for their first V-League title yesterday.

Binh Duong played on home ground at Go Dau Stadium and kept their 12 point lead.

Yesterday”s goal-packed V-League action saw all the host teams clinching wins over their visiting rivals, in play that notched up a record of 28 goals scored in one day, the highest number of goals for one day of play in the league”s seven season history.

The matches at southern TMN Sai Gon Port”s Military Zone 7 stadium and central Da Nang”s home ground at Chi Lang saw the highest-scoring games which each match seeing the ball reach the net seven times.

At TV Do stadium, hosts Huda Hue scored four to beat southern visitors Binh Dinh who managed to score two goals.

Second-stage signing Folorunso fired the first goal of the action last night to put Hue in front at two minutes into the match.

Opara struck twice in each half before Brazilian Marcelo Barbieri secured the fourth win of the season for Hue, who remained at the bottom of the ladder after the win. They could only level with the next-to-bottom-placed Dong Thap on 18 points.

At Go Dau, Ghanaian midfielder Abbey was caught for hand-ball, with the referee awarding Binh Duong a penalty which Brazilian striker Kesley Alves converted into a goal, giving the home team a lead in the 66th minute.

Six minutes from time, Binh Duong”s South African player Philani sealed the win for the hosts when he converted a bounce-back from Nguyen Hoang Nam”s shot at goal that was blocked by a SLNA defender.

Two-time champions Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and Da Nang are keeping pace with each other in second and third place, both scoring wins yesterday.

The Central Highland side HAGL, who were dethroned by defending champions Dong Tam Long An two years ago, beat their underdog rivals from the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinceof Dong Thap 1-0 while Da Nang handed Halida Thanh Hoa a dramatic 4-3 loss yesterday.

The two sides are both 12 points off the leaders and three above Thanh Hoa, who maintained fourth place after the loss.

The remaining spots, except the bottom ranking, were shaken up after yesterday”s matches.

Long An, who are still clinging to their slim hope of taking their third title in a row, moved up two places to fifth with their home 2-1 win over Ha Noi ACB, staying 15 points behind top-placed Binh Duong.

Binh Dinh and Nam Dinh both went down a place each to sixth and seventh after their losses to Hue and Sai Gon Port. Nam Dinh lost 4-3 to HCM City-based Sai Gon Port. They are one point adrift of each other on 25 and 24.

SLNA slid down a spot to ninth on 23 points, two clear of Hoa Phat Ha Noi and Khatoco Khanh Hoa, who were competing in Hanoi yesterday with the Hanoians sealing a 2-0 win.

Ha Noi ACB and Dong Thap also both moved closer to the bottom. The Hanoi side have 20 points, two above Dong Thap. 

– VNS –