The full programme of 15^th round matches in V League 1 took place yesterday evening in stadiums across the country.

SHB DN’s captain Merlo celebrating a goal with his teammate Eydison (99)

8^th place SHB Da Nang took on 2^nd place Ha Noi in an incident-packed game at Da Nang’s Hoa Xuan Stadium, but they disappointingly only managed a 2-2 draw.  Despite their recent successes in the Cup competition, SHB DN have not won any of their last 5 matches in the V League. 

Yesterday’s result was disappointing because SHB DN had every chance to take the 3 points when considering that for 65% of the match they were playing against only 10 men.  In the 30^th minute HN’s naturalised Nigerian striker Samson was sent off for kicking the head of  SHB DN’s Britez, who then played the rest of the half with a head bandage before being substituted at half time.  The result was also disappointing because twice SHB DN took the lead, but twice lost it very quickly due to poor defending.

The score was 0-0 at half time.  Then, soon after being brought on as a tactical substitute, SHB DN’s Brazilian attacker Eydison opened the scoring in the 57^th minute from close range thanks to a neat through pass from SHB DN’s captain Merlo.  Just 6 minutes later, Arnaud  equalised for HN.  In the 68^th minute it was Merlo himself who headed a goal to put SHB DN back in front but, like before, that lead didn’t last long – Arnaud scored his second in a very similar fashion to his first.  After the sending off, HN will be mightily relieved to have left Da Nang with the 1 point.

There seems to be an obvious need for SHB DN to examine their defensive strategies, although the loss of key central midfielder Britez for the second half did not help.  Up front, when the 2 strong attackers Merlo and Eydison are playing together they need more quality deliveries which they could then so easy convert into goals.  One wonders too, given the small crowd, about the wisdom of starting mid-week matches at 5pm.

The evening’s other match results were:

               Can Tho  3-0  Hoang Anh Gia Lai

          Quang Nam 3-3 Song Lam Nghe An

            Hai Phong  3-2 Long An

Ho Chi Minh City   0-0 FLC Thanh Hoa

          Binh Duong 1-3 Saigon

          Quang Ninh 2-1 Sanna Khanh Hoa

SHB DN remain in 8^th position in the league.  FLC Thanh Hoa and Ha Noi are the top 2 teams despite both drawing yesterday.

The next game for SHB DN is on Sunday when they have a 6pm kick off away at 3^rd-from-bottom Binh Duong.  Then, the V-league will have an over 2-month break to allow the national football team to prepare for SEA Games 29 which will take place in Malaysia in mid-August.

(Writen by Ian Lister)