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| Kaya Iloilo could not complete a second-half rally to stun Cong An Hanoi. Kaya FC-Iloilo |
MANILA--An inspired second-half run powered by substitute Mark Swainston was not enough for Kaya Iloilo to pull off a shocker at home against Cong An Hanoi as the Vietnamese side walked away with a 2-1 win in their Shopee Cup battle on Thursday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Coming in to replace Eric Esso at halftime, Swainston drilled the reigning PFL champion's first-ever goal in the regional tournament formerly known as the ASEAN Club Championship as he converted a back pass from Shuto Komaki to give CAHN a scare after dominating the first half.
Le Van Do took charge of CAHN's opening salvo after scoring the lead-off goal in the 16th minute before forcing Marco Casambre to mistakenly send the ball to his own goal in the 28th minute.
However, Swainston's 54th-minute goal gave Kaya Iloilo a lot of hope, and they came close to equalizing the match later in the second half only that its potential equalizer hit the crossbar.
Although they still needed to heave a sigh of relief with Kaya Iloilo's crossbar scare, coach Alex Polking was glad that CAHN's defense held forth despite the home club's brilliant second half.
"I still believe that we didn't concede many big chances. We were nervous a bit. We didn't control the game anymore, but I didn't see all those big chances," Polking said.
CAHN remains perfect in Group B with nine points on three wins to remain on top.
On the other hand, following Buriram's 4-0 win against Borneo, Kaya Iloilo dropped out of semifinal contention.
Worse, with Lion City Sailors, the only other winless team entering Thursday night, shocking Kuala Lumpur at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore, 2-0, Kaya Iloilo crashed to last place in their group.
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