May 20, 2004

S-League champions Home United sealed top spot in Group D of the AFC Cup with a 5-0 whipping of Maldives side Valencia at the Bishan Stadium.

While Malaysian side Perak finished level on 14 points with Home United at the top of the group after a 2-1 win over Hong Kong Happy Valley in other Group D fixtures, the Singapore champion finished in first place due to their far superior goal difference.

It took over half an hour for Home United to break the deadlock as Valencia goalkeeper Aslam Abdul Raheem proved a formidable one-man barrier for his team in the opening half, making save after save. However, Raheem's heroics only delayed the inevitable as Indra Sahdan Daud finally broke the deadlock on 32 minutes, rising unmarked to plant a firm header into the Valencia net. Indra then made it 2-0 right before half-time, tapping in his own rebound after a good intial save by Raheem. The Singapore international striker completed his hat-trick on 71 minutes with a well-placed drive before an own goal by Mohmed Nazim in the 78th minute & an injury time strike by Peres de Oliveira rounded out Home's emphatic win.

In Ipoh, Perak also finished their campaign with 14 points after a come-from-behind victory against Happy Valley. Happy Valley were already out of contention after only managing 3 points from 5 games but they stunned their hosts by taking the lead in the 62nd minute through a long-range effort by Lawrence Akandu. However, Liberian striker Frank Seator turned the match around with two goals in three minutes, tapping in the rebound after V.Saravanan's initial shot had been saved by Happy Valley goalkeeper Fan Chun Yip in the 75th minute & adding his second off Saravanan's quickly-taken freee-kick two minutes later.

Home United and Perak will go into the draw for the AFC Cup quarter-finals, to be held in Beijing on May 28