Nozawa’s save turning point: DPMM coach

Yee Chun Leong BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

 DPMM FC coach Steve Kean was disappointed to let the Singapore League Cup title slip away after falling 2-0 to Albirex Niigata (S) FC in the final on Saturday night.Rui Kumada had given the Japanese outfits the lead late in the first half — the only goal that DPMM FC conceded in open play in the competition — and Kean felt that a good save by the Nosuke Nozawa on Adi Said’s effort in the 68th minute was the turning point of the game.In turn, Atsushi Kawata headed home at the far post off a corner in the 80th minute to seal the White Swans’ third title in the competition at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.“We are disappointed because we had the better chances in the first half until they scored their first goal,” said Kean in a post match interview as quoted on the S-League.“With 20 minutes to go, we put in an attacking player to chase the game but credit to the goalkeeper as he made a great save to deny Adi,” he added.“If we had scored that, it would have been 1-1 and we would have been on the ascendency and pushed them a little extra,” continued the former Blackburn Rovers manager.DPMM FC had their best run of the season with five straight wins — including four in the tournament with three clean sheets– prior to the final.Kean hopes that they will be able to carry it over into the final round of the Singapore League (S-League) starting with a meeting against Albirex this Friday at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.“Up until tonight (Saturday night) we have won the last five games. We have been in a good place,” said Kean.“I think every neutral who was watching the game would say by looking at the result and think 2-0 must have been easy. I think Albirex would agree that it was far from easy for them.“We had enough chances but they are a quality side if they get into rhythm which they did after we missed that chance. They are hard to get the ball off,” he added.“Obviously we changed from five defenders to four so there is a little bit more space. I felt we had to do that at that stage.“But now we can then go into the last eight games with confidence. “We have performed in this tournament but unfortunately we didn’t win. We came very close,” continued the Scotsman.On the other hand, Albirex coach Naoki Naruo agreed that it was a tough game and felt that the opening goal was key to the win.“It was a very tough game because it was the final. The first goal was very important for us because DPMM FC were playing better till then,” said Naruo.“We allowed them to create chances, so I wasn’t very impressed with our defending eventhough we managed to deal with the high balls as Kazuki (Mine) was winning everything in the air,” he concluded.The Brunei Times -

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