Monday, August 1, 2016

Crown gunned down by Army

Match Report: PPCFC 0 Army 1 (Metfone C-League).
Crown suffered a 1-nil defeat in a closely-contested game at RSN Stadium this evening, as Army continued their quest for the title. The goal that separated the teams came on 62 minutes as Kim Kyong Hun, lying on the ground, poked the ball into an empty net after coming off best in a challenge with goalkeeper Keo Soksela. The Crown stopper, on his birthday, pulled off a great 1-handed save from the lively Choe Myong Ho after ten minutes of the game's start. At the other end Kim Hyeon Woo was inches away from sending a header on target but it was the visitors who shaded possession in the first-half and saw drives from Kim and Chreng Polroth just clear the cross-bar.
Crown began the second-half on the offensive as Jang In Yong's low drive was held by goalkeeper Um Vichet, who also grabbed George Bisan's shot on the goal-line, moments after a goal-mouth scramble saw Pov Ponvuthy and Kim Hyeon Woo denied by a wall of Army defenders. Army got their noses in front and Soksela was forced to make fine saves from Reung Bunheing and Choe, as Army stayed firm to take the points and keep their title challenge alive. For Crown, they have five games remaining to improve their league position, which is currently sixth. 
Above: PPCFC line-up, back row, LtoR: Soksela, Kim, Thierry, Aymard, Bisan, Boris. Front: Jang, Makara, Ponvuthy, Baraing, Sodavid.
Head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his view of PPCFC's performance against Army in last night's 1-0 home defeat. "We played a good team who were organised and fit and for most of the game, were as good as us. Even though we are unhappy with the result, its not that we deserved to win the game. I feel we took some risks in our selection and how we wanted to play, and after some changes in the second-half, for the first ten minutes we dominated and had 3 chances that we could've scored. If we had scored, we would've won the game but we couldn't score, and in a pretty even game we unfortunately lost. For the goal I have to look at the replay, it looked touch and go. It reminded me of the goal we conceded against Army in a friendly and I showed that to the team so we didn't concede it again, so I'm obviously disappointed with the goal that decided the game."
The video highlights from PPCFC's 1-0 defeat to Army this evening are on the club's YouTube channel @ https://youtu.be/rXhpeHWEEEA

No comments: