Hang Yuan’s head coach yesterday said he was disappointed in their 2-0 loss to Leopard Cat over the weekend, which left them fourth in the standings with less than two weeks left in the season.
Hang Yuan were in the title race prior to Sunday’s defeat, which put them six points behind first-place Taichung Futuro, dashing their post-season ambitions.
With just two more days of games remaining — on Sunday and Nov. 27 — the Taiwan Football Premier League’s title race is the closest in years.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Football Premier League
Riding a late-season surge of five consecutive wins, Tainan TSG moved to within two points of Futuro, after beating Taipower 3-0.
However, despite blanking AC Taipei 2-0, Ming Chuan University remain last with five points.
In New Taipei City, Leopard Cat’s Japanese midfielder Naoyuki Yamazaki scored twice to knock Hang Yuan out of the running.
“We needed a win, but our players did not execute well and gave chances to Leopard Cat. In the second half, our defense had numerous lapses, and they could not play the quick-pace game that I wanted. It was an agonizing defeat for us,” Hang Yuan head coach Hong Ching-huai said.
After a scoreless first half, Yamazaki scored off a header from a teammate to put Leopard Cat on the board. Seven minutes later, he scored again to seal the win.
In Tainan, striker Marc Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands scored twice in their victory over Taipower, while winger Yao Ke-chi added another early in the second half on an assist from Ivorian forward Ange Samuel.
“It will come down to the final rounds,” Tainan head coach Lo Chih-tsung said. “We have no other path forward than to go all-out for wins in our last two games. There is no room for error, even a draw is not enough.”
As defending champions, Tainan were the favorites to win this year’s title, but Lo said his players suffered lapses after playing in the AFC Cup qualifiers in June.
“After returning from the qualifiers, our team could not return to form, and went through a string of losses and draws,” he said. “It was a rough patch for us, but we made adjustments, and are winning again. We must focus and not make any mistakes for the final two games.”
In Taipei, Ming Chuan University recorded their first win of the season over AC Taipei, with goals from forward Yu Yao-hsin and Japanese defender Yamato Kumagai.
Early in the second half, Yu bounced a shot inside the net to open the scoring, and five minutes before time, Kumagai scored off a penalty-kick.
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