April 21, 2004

Home United Coach Steve Darby was disappointed as he saw his team throw the lead away against Perak for the second time in fortnight.

In the last AFC Cup match between them a fortnight ago, Home United had lead Perak 2-0 at half-time but allowed them back into the match as they conceded 2 goals in the second half.

This time, the Protectors were given an advantage early on when Perak defender Asmawi Bakiri was send off for handball on his goalline early in the match which resulted in a penalty for the Protectors. Thai Sutee Suksomkit scored from the penalty spot giving the Protectors the lead.

He admitted his team had lost 2 points & instead of earning 1 point as they had enough chances in the second half to kill off the Malaysian team. He felt they were not ruthless in front of goal.

However he felt every single player had given their all so he was disappointed with response from section of the crowds at the end of the match. He find the booing extremely distasteful as since he took charge 2 years ago, they have lost only 5 times out of 55 matches.

When asked if it could be because was the third time in four games that Home allowed a lead to slip away ending up with a draw so the feeling of a crisis for the Home United.

Steve Darby brushed off their recent lack of wins saying a crisis is what is happening in Iraq now & not football. Still he acknowledged he is not delighted with the recent results but it is not the end of the world as they are still leading the AFC group.