Singapore: Stipe Plazibat served up even more late drama for Home United on Tuesday, scoring a late, late brace to send his side into the AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal Final with a 3-2 win over Global FC.
Things were touch-and-go in a rollercoaster second-leg at Jalan Besar Stadium, but in the end it was the finer details that secured a 5-4 aggregate win for Home.
Red card turns tide in Home’s favour
The sides exchanged blows here like two prize fighters willing to go the distance, but the bout swung in Home’s favour after Dennis Villanueva received a straight red card in the 71st minute for a high challenge.
From that point on the gloves were off for Home, and they poured forwards in search of the goals they needed.
92.4% of the final 15 minutes was spent in the middle and Global thirds of the pitch, and twice in that time the hosts managed to find the target to knock out the visitors.
Lack of ideas cost Global
There was very little between the sides over the 90 minutes in most areas of play, but a lack of variety could be said to have undone Global.
Their most frequent passing combination, for instance, was a direct line from goalkeeper Patrick Deyto to centre-forward Darryl Roberts – being employed eight times.
Such a simple approach left the Trinidad and Tobago striker isolated up front and unable to lead his team to victory.
Roberts battles while Plazibat waits
Ultimately, it was the difference between the two side’s centre-forwards that settled this tie.
Both men found the net in the first-leg a fortnight ago, but Roberts was forced to spend the majority of this game battling for possession and thus failed to register a single shot on target for Global.
Home’s Plazibat, meanwhile, was content to wait for his chances – which in the end, as in he first-leg, came at the final knockings as he converted both his shots on target in the 89th and 94th minutes to secure a sensational late turnaround.
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com