THANH HÓA — FLC Thanh Hóa continued its pursuit of Hải Phòng in a competition to take over the first place of the 2016 V-League with their convincing 4-0 home victory against visiting Đồng Tháp yesterday.

Thanh Hóa secured their lead as Lê Quốc Phương won a 1-on-1 against Đồng Tháp’s goal keeper inside the box six minutes into the game.

Senegalese striker Omar Faye widened the gap for Thanh Hóa at the 30th minute with a close range finisher after his header attempt was blocked by the goal keeper. The ball bounced back to Faye, who was completely unchallenged in front of the goal as the he scored the second goal of the match.

Midfielder Hoàng Văn Bình crushed the visitor’s hope of a come back 18 minutes into the second half after he went past the keeper, who had to abandon his goal post in a desperate attempt to intercept Bình’s speedy run, and easily put the ball in Đồng Tháp’s undefended goal.

Hoàng Thanh Tùng completed the host’s perfect match with another goal five minutes before the whistle as the visiting team left the back open in their attempt to find at least a goal to save their honour.

The home victory put FLC Thanh Hóa in second place of the 2016 V-League race with 19 points after ten games. V-League’s first place Hải Phòng maintained their lead in the competition with 25 points.

In another development, defending champion Becamex Bình Dương suffered a crucial defeat in their away game against Quảng Nam, which has set them back in a major way in the race to catch up with Hải Phòng. The defending champion currently sits at third place with 18 points after losing second place to FLC Thanh Hóa. — VNS