PKR win at last

Preah Khan finally got off the winning mark against the National Police

Preah Khan Reach will be relieved to have got their first win of the Metfone C-League season out of the way, beating the Police Commissary team 3-1 yesterday at Olympic Stadium. Essentially it was the military police up against the national police with the former taking the bragging rights. It was all PKR in the 1st half. They found acres of space in midfield and holes quickly began to open up in the National Police defence. Khuon Laboravy was back on song, and when he is playing well, so do Preah Khan. It was Laboravy who netted the first goal on 13 minutes when he controlled a Prak Mony Udom center and picked his spot in the corner. The livewire Tum Saray was also giving the Police back-line the runaround and he scored PKR's second goal on the half-hour, moving onto Udom's pass and slipping his shot under the advancing keeper. Laboravy had two more good opportunities to increase the deficit before the break but fluffed both of them, the second hitting the crossbar. Five minutes after the interval, Police got a lifeline when Tith Dina headed in at the far post but their hopes were quickly dashed. Less than a minute later, Tum Saray got the final touch to an Udom free-kick that spurted across the face of goal, and the Police resistance was broken. There were no more goals though Sophal Udom ballooned one over the top when it looked easier to score, and Laboravy struck the woodwork again after he broke away. Relief for PKR, back to the drawing board for the Police.

The National Police came out 2nd best in the clash of the police teams

Naga, who knocked in 10 past Rithysen, despite being reduced to 10 men early on

I nearly ran out of ink whilst watching the second game of the day. Rithysen were well and truly whipped by the revitalised Naga team, who found themselves reduced to ten men in the 22nd minute. Youngster Ou Lihorng was twice cautioned by referee Yien Kivatanak for late tackles and trudged off the pitch bemused. Within three minutes Naga opened the scoring floodgates and they never looked back. Big and strong, Julius Oiboh began the game in subdued fashion but was always in the thick of Naga's attacking intentions and it was his presence that allowed Prak Chanratana to fire home the opening salvo. The Nigerian goalscoring machine got into the swing it on 37 minutes when he collected the ball in his own half, waltzed around two defenders and the keeper and netted the first of his own hat-trick. Naga led 2-0 at the break but it was all one-way traffic and the 2nd half would emphasise that even more. Teab Vathanak got in on the act with a hat-trick of goals in an eight-minute spell. On 58 minutes he tapped in a rebound after Kop Isa had headed against an upright, on 63 minutes he neatly picked his spot at the far post, and three minutes later he drove an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner from the edge of the box. Oiboh lobbed a shot onto the bar before he netted his second goal, on 74 minutes, again weaving his way around three defenders like a hot knife through butter, and firing past the hapless Oum Veasna in the Rithysen goal. Naga even gifted Rithysen a goal on 77 minutes when Tiet Chandarasokha sliced a cross into his own net, only for Oiboh to claim his hat-trick goal, and Naga's 7th, a minute later from Chim Chom's pass. It really was men against boys as Rithysen failed to stem wave upon wave of Naga attacks. Chom, on as a sub, rounded Veasna to grab Naga's 8th on 80 minutes and two minutes later, Meas Channa curled in a wicked corner kick that deceived everyone including Veasna to score direct. Rithysen replaced Veasna after that but it wasn't his fault. His replacement was soon picking the ball out of the net as Kop Isa netted with a neat chip four minutes from time. It was murder for Rithysen who must already be hoping for an end to their C-League nightmare in their debut season. For Naga, the win took them into third place.

Rithysen must've wanted the earth to open up and swallow them as they lost again