HÀ NỘI — Sông Lam Nghệ An (SLNA) crushed fans’ favourite Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) by three goals to nil in the V.League 1 yesterday.

The game was held at Vinh Stadium in the central province of Nghệ An.

Although playing away from home, HAGL started the brighter and created several good chances in the opening exchanges but often the final touch was rushed and they failed to find the net.

The best SLNA could muster was counter-attacking football. They did have the ball in the back of the net much to the delight of the home crowd but striker Hồ Tuấn Tài's effort was ruled offside.

The second half was just seven minutes old when the home team finally managed to break the deadlock.

A neat pass from Cao Xuân Thắng found Tài, and this time he was clearly onside and his goal stood.

This effort sparked the SLNA into life and they went on the offensive looking to double their lead.

On 62 minutes, striker Michael Olaha missed a chance to but the home side two up but with the goalkeeper nowhere to be seen, the forward disappointed.

The second goal eventually came from Nguyễn Quang Tình who volleyed home to put the game beyond the reach of HAGL.

Deep into injury time, Olaha made up for his earlier embarrassment to fire home the third after poor work in the HAGL backline.

The win puts SLNA in third spot with 21 points, while HAGL sit in 11^th with 15 points.

Elsewhere, rookie team Viettel beat Sanna Khánh Hòa 1-0 thanks to a Bruno Catanhede effort and a Rod Dyachenko hat trick helped Quảng Ninh Coal crush Hải Phòng 4-2.

Quảng Ninh controlled the game from the off and just eight minutes in, Hải Huy headed home to open the scoring for the hosts.

Early in the second half, after a defensive mistake  Giang Trần Quách Tân found Dyachenko who didn’t waste the chance

After that, Dyachenko scored two mores goal in a row to complete his hat trick in this match, while Hải Phòng also had two goals thanks to Nguyễn Vũ Hoàng Dương and Viết Nguyên to narrow the gap. — VNS