Naga refuse to roll over

Naga kept up the pressure on leaders Crown with a 4-1 success

What was wrong with the Army today? Aside from Phnom Penh Crown, they had the best defensive record in the Metfone C-League and if they'd managed a victory over Naga Corp, they would've allowed Crown to win the title without playing. It was not to be. In fact, the military boys played their poorest game of football for a while and served the three points to Naga on a plate, mainly due to their inept marking of the league's runaway goalscoring machine, Julius Oiboh. He took just 14 minutes to break the deadlock when he collected the ball on the edge of the penalty box, easily sidestepped two defenders and precisely rolled the ball wide of Army keeper Sou Yaty and into the net. Confidence personified. It was like shelling peas for the Nigerian hitman as he took his season's tally to 26 goals. A couple of minutes later his 20-yard strike was palmed aside by Yaty and then another, on 35 minutes, had the best keeper in the league at sixes and sevens. Yaty failed to hold Oiboh's thunderbolt, Chin Chom pounced but was blocked by Yaty's recovery with Omogba Esoh then heading the loose ball wide from five yards out. Naga netted a second three minutes before the interval which Yaty won't be happy with. Esoh let fly from 25 yards out and goalkeeper dived to push it wide only for the ball to hit the foot of the upright and spin back over the goal-line. In time added on, Phlong Chanthou chipped the Army's best chance over the top.
After the break, it took the Army ten minutes to get back into the game, though Esoh had already whacked one against the woodwork at the other end. Pheak Rady got to the bye-line with one of his overlapping runs and Meak Chhordaravuth poked the ball home at the second attempt. Ten minutes later and Naga were back in front and the game was effectively over. Wayward marking allowed Julius Oiboh to skip past three defenders as he made progress from the half-way line and as he was about to shoot, Lok Sophorn whipped his standing leg from under him. Oiboh got up, dusted himself down and sent Yaty the wrong way from the penalty spot. Naga wrapped it up with a textbook cross from Meas Channa and a Teab Vathanak header from close-in on 78 minutes to make it 4-1 and keep alive their hopes of pipping Crown for the championship.

The Army went down 4-1 to Naga Corp

Kirivong hit bottom club Rithysen for six

In the second game this afternoon, Rithysen were hoping for a miracle that never came. Without a win all season, they had their fingers crossed against Kirivong, but even with striker Nelson Oladiji missing his usual hatful of opportunities, Kirivong were simply too strong, registering a 6-1 at the death. Whether he was heading wide or volleying over, Oladiji messed up five chances before his teammate Heng Kimhong showed him how to do it on 39 minutes. Taking the lead from his colleague, Oladiji finally found the net in the first minute of injury time, firing his shot under the keeper's body. Rithysen perked up considerably seven minutes after the break as Thiv Sophearom broke clear, only to see his drive rebound off the foot of the upright and straight to his teammate Ly Vina who rolled it into the empty net. The bottom club thought they were back in the game only to go further behind four minutes later when In Vichheka bamboozled three defenders and fired in to make it 3-1. Ten minutes from the end and Heng Kimhong floated in a beauty from the edge of the box, two minutes later Ek Vannak found lots of space to net easily and in time added on, Chheng Yang tucked in a sixth for Kirivong. Another bad day for Rithysen.

Rithysen went down, again, and are already relegated