HÀ NỘI — FLC Thanh Hóa defeated Đà Nẵng 3-2 in the 14th round of the national premiere league at Thanh Hóa Stadium on Saturday.

Thanh Hóa started attacking as soon as the referee blew his whistle. Lê Quốc Phương opened the score for Thanh Hóa in the 14th minute.

Fifteen minutes later, Đà Nẵng’s Phan Văn Long levelled the score at 1-1.

After the break, Thanh Hóa continued dominating the match, and their efforts were rewarded with Pape Omar Feye and Lê Văn Thắng scoring the goals in the 69th minute and 76th minute, respectively.

In the remaining time, Đà Nẵng who last won the league in 2012 and were the runners-up in 2013, tried their best to narrow the gap to 2-3 with a goal by Eydison Teofilo Soares.

With this victory, Thanh Hóa topped the ranking with 29 points and Đà Nẵng ranked eighth with 18 points.

“Thanh Hóa showed a different face in this match. We played actively and effectively, so we are worthy of the win. This was very valuable three points, as Đà Nẵng are a strong candidate for this year’s tournament,” said coach Ljupko Petrovic of Thanh Hóa.

Meanwhile, coach Lê Huỳnh Đức said he was sorry for his team’s loss.

“We exerted ourselves. We deserved to have one point. The host team played very well, especially on the attack line,” said Đức.

In the other match, Sông Lam Nghệ An (SLNA) drew 1-1 with Quảng Ninh Coal. Despite not beating their rival, coach Nguyễn Đức Thắng was satisfied with his players’ performance.

“After two months of training, we improved many things. We started well and played unitedly. Trần Phi Sơn played a key role for SLNA. We scored first but were levelled in the final minutes,” said Thắng.

Elsewhere, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai bested Becamex Bình Dương 2-1, Khánh Hòa lost to Quảng Nam 0-3, HCM City beat Long An 3-2, Sài Gòn crushed Cần Thơ 2-1, and Hà Nội won Hải Phòng 2-0. — VNS