BBU spring surprise

BBU, trying to blend in with their surroundings, beat Army 3-0

In Saturday's first match at the Olympic Stadium, BBU showed glimpses of their early season form to put three goals past the Army without reply. The result was a bit of a shock as the Army have the best defensive record in the Metfone C-League but they fired blanks yesterday and the students of Build Bright took full advantage. It was all pretty mundane stuff for the 1st half with Army doing much of the pressing and even though Hem Simay in the BBU goal had a day where he flapped at everything, the Army couldn't muster a shot on target. BBU caught the Army out when a combination of Pheak Rady and keeper Oum Vichet failed to deal with a high bouncing ball and Pech Sina got a toe to it and lobbed the only goal of the 1st half on 18 minutes. Numerous substitutions and stoppages marred the 2nd half before BBU went further ahead on 67 minutes. Heng Sokly was all alone at the far post but his mis-cued shot was going wide until Pech Sina turned it in with a high foot and his 2nd goal of the game. A double save by Oum Vichet kept the score down, as he pushed an Oum Chandara free-kick onto the post and then bravely blocked a Seng Kosen follow-up from close range. But the young Army keeper had no chance to stop BBU's third goal on 73 minutes when Kosen crossed to Chandara, and the reliable wideman fired home his team's final goal. In the last minute Heng Sokly held off a defender and looked to have netted a fourth only to see his shot roll agonizingly wide. BBU will hope that this result will kick-start their season, while Army will lean heavily on the return of injured skipper Thong Udom to shore up those defensive frailties that were exposed against BBU if they still harbor league title intentions.

A 3-0 defeat for the Army was a blow to their title hopes

The two teams file out before the start of Saturday's game

An entry for the perfect toss of the season from referee Sang Sopheak