The Red Lions on Sunday avoided slipping into the second division when they won Taiwan’s first relegation playoff match against Inter Taoyuan on penalties.
The two sides fielded strong sides at National Taiwan Sport University in Taoyuan, both creating good chances, while Inter’s Harding Lau was the busier of the two goalkeepers, especially in the second half.
Lau had to be sharp with the Red Lions threatening from corners and set-pieces, although Inter also created several good chances, only to be denied by Red Lions goalkeeper Lee Kuan-pei.
Photo: Jason Pan, Taipei Times
After both sides failed to make the breakthrough in 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra-time it went to penalties, with Inter replacing Lau late in extra-time for Turkish goalkeeper Baslar Burak.
Lee was the hero for the Red Lions after he saved one penalty and another was blazed over the bar, while his teammates put all four of their penalties past Burak for a 4-2 victory.
The Red Lions finished the Taiwan Football Premier League season in seventh place on nine points, just ahead of Ming Chuan University on eight, who were relegated to the Taiwan Challenge League and replaced by the second-tier champions CPC Corp.
“This year is the dawning of a new era. We have for the first time in Taiwanese soccer history established first-tier and second-tier leagues. This playoff for promotion and relegation is a first for Taiwan,” CTFA secretary-general Fang Ching-jen told reporters.
“We were busy in the past two years laying the groundwork, building the foundations and requirements for the healthy development of soccer in Taiwan, with promotion and relegation between the top two tiers,” Fang said. “Taiwan is making progress to sustain the game for a long time, to catch up with other more advanced soccer nations by hosting professional clubs and an having an organized league structure.”
Red Lions manager Chang Wu-yeh praised Inter after the match.
“Their players had a very good attitude, very vocal and really getting into the game to cheer their team on. They have excellent players to build upon and I told my team to learn from them in today’s match,” Chang said. “Many of our team were playing in university cup tournaments and other amateur competitions in the past few days, and they took this match too lightly. They were a bit slow and did not have much time to think when on the ball, as the Inter Taoyuan players pressed us throughout this match.”
“It’s very unfortunate that we made several good runs in offense, but just failed to capitalize on them to score. If we got one goal up, it would not have been so tense later in the match, when we were too eager to push up and attack, which pulled our defenders out of position and opened up chances for the opposition,” Inter captain Hsu Hung-chih said.
“All our players gave 120 percent today. Despite losing out in the end, it was collectively an outstanding effort from us. Everyone can see our team’s fighting spirit and determination to win,” Hsu said.
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