Update by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - Gombak United climbed to second position in the S. League table after edging out Home United in a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

Both teams had suffered disappointments in their respective previous matches. Gombak were beaten 2-1 by bottom-of-the-table Woodlands Wellington while Home were held to a 2-2 draw by Balestier Khalsa at home.

However it was Gombak produced the perfect response as they clinched all three points through a Fazrul Nawaz goal on 50 minutes.

In the first half, Home slightly edged Gombak in terms of the number of goalscoring opportunities created.

Midfielder Naufal Omar was the first to threaten the Gombak goal on eight minutes. After a cut back from the left by winger Azhar Sairudin, Naufal Omar let fly with a superb effort outside the box that arrowed towards the top right corner, but Gombak goalkeeper Zaiful Nizam leaped superbly to tip the effort onto the bar and over.

Gombak briefly took over midway through the half through mostly ambitious long-range efforts which did not manage to trouble Home goalie Lionel Lewis.

The closest they went was on 25 minutes when Lionel dropped a Ruhaizad Ismail cross from the right, but it was well covered by Home full back Rosman Sulaiman on the post.

Home threatened the Gombak goal on two occasions towards the end of the half.

On 40 minutes, Chilean playmaker Nelson San Martin curled his 30-yard freekick towards the top left corner of the goal, but Zaiful Nizam was on hand to tip the ball over the bar.

The resulting corner by Nelson picked out Korean forward Choi Chul Woo at the far post but Zaiful once again palmed the ball away from goal.

The last opportunity of the half fell to Gombak when centre back Obadin Aikhena fired a long-range freekick which Lionel had to palm away. The ball only fell towards an unmarked Fazrul Nawaz inside the box who slotted the rebound into goal, but it was disallowed for offside.

Home brought on playmaker Shahril Ishak and Canadian winger Sherif El-Masri on half time in an attempt to add more creativity to their attack.

However Gombak was to strike first blood five minutes into the second half.

A long throw by full back Jaslee Hatta on the right was flicked on well by Korean forward Chang Jo Yoon towards Fazrul Nawaz inside the box. Fazrul managed to leap just above Rosman Sulaiman to glance a superb header into the right hand corner of the goal.

Home's substitutions did not pan out well as they struggled to break down the sturdy Gombak defence led by their two lanky centre backs Bah Mamadou and Obadin Aikhena. As a result, they only created two real openings in the half.

Firstly on 62 minutes, midfielder Shahdan Sulaiman played a superb one-two with El-Masri before finding some space inside the box to shoot on goal. However his effort went well over the bar.

15 minutes later, a teasing cross by Nelson San Martin picked out El-Masri inside the box, but the latter could only produce a tame header that went straight to Zaiful Nizam.

Instead it was Gombak who finished the stronger of the two sides as they created another couple of opportunities towards the end.

On 80 minutes, substitute Zulkiffli Hassim cut inside from the right before shooting from just outside the box. The effort was only palmed away by Lionel Lewis to the lurking Zulkiffli who had the goal at his mercy. However he somehow managed to volley the rebound over the bar.

Five minutes later, full back Jeremy Chiang cut inside from the right again before unleashing a powerful 20-yard effort that beat Lionel but not the left-hand post.

That was the last significant moment of the match as Gombak closed in on a crucial victory that ensured they climbed three places into the second position in the table with 16 points from 10 matches played while Home United dropped one place into the fifth position with 14 points from the same number of games.

Home United next play Albirex Niigata (Singapore) on 30th April while Gombak face Geylang United on 7th May.