Crown Go Top After Derby Day Win.

Phnom Penh Crown moved three points clear at the top of the table with a Friday night win over bitter rivals Boeung Ket. It’s two title rivals beaten in their opening three games which will keep Svay Rieng honest and constantly looking over their shoulders.

Boeung Ket lacks that cutting edge…

It was a cool(ish) night in Phnom Penh as the two kicked off. The usual die hard fans from both sides filled the stands with their noise and all were excited by the opening exchanges.

Crown moved the ball with purpose whilst BK played more directly trying to turn the Crown defense with pin pointed direct balls inside advanced full backs. Both sides unable to create anything clear cut out guilt edged but both Goalkeepers were doing their jobs efficiently.

Into the second half and Crown immediately grabbed the game with Neito at the center of everything. However, it was Pisoth who opened the scoring with a neat finish. Neito doubled the lead just after 70 minutes as Boeung Ket struggled to cope with the Colombians next gear.

An 82nd minute reply would give us a nervy ending but Crown are looking good at the start of the season and it’s hard to see them losing when playing with this kind of ruthless mentality.

Elsewhere this weekend….

Vishaka will host Life FC in a game they must win to kick start their season. Vishaka have a habit of not giving quality coaches enough time to imprint their ideas and they’re historically even less patient with foreign coaches. It’s unfortunate because every foreign check that’s sat in the hot seat is quality, but without time it is impossible to be successful.

ISI and Ministry will be an interesting game with ISI expected to come out on top. These two clubs have a similar standing within Cambodian football and both are well run clubs.

On Sunday a double header as Tiffy look to kick start their season against a rested Tiger team looking to build on an impressive opening day win. Tiffy will be a much tougher test for them than the Ministry were and given that they managed to produce the worst team photo ever last week, mixing up the water boy and head coaches positions in the photo, it’s looking like a long weekend for Tiger.

Then Svay Rieng welcome Kirivong with anything but a comfortable home win being close to impossible. Svay Rieng return from continental exploits in Malaysia and will most likely be looking to give minutes to those who haven’t featured regularly yet.

Predictions

Vishaka 4-1 Life FC

Ministry 1-3 ISI

Tiffy 2-1 Tiger

Svay Rieng 6-1 Kirivong.