AC Taipei: 0 – Taipower: 0

Leader leaders AC Taipei found themselves stuck in the mud against a hardworking Taipower side. Both teams lined up in identical 4-3-3 formations and for the most part were able to cancel the other out. The game was a forceful affair, with hard tackles going in from both sides whilst the keepers were called into action on several occasions.

However, with no breakthrough achieved by either side, AC Taipei’s lead now shrinks to a single point as a three-horse race begins to emerge between themselves, Hang Yuan and Tainan City.

Hang Yuan: 7 – Ming Chuan University: 0

Bottom of the table Ming Chuan got a comprehensive drubbing as Hang Yuan made it three wins-in-a-row. Taiwan national team player Kang Tae-won opened the scoring with eleven minutes played when he volleyed home Shingo Koreeda’s dinked cross. Koreeda scored himself three minutes later thudding shot from about ten yards out before Huang Yung-chun added a third from a corner kick just before halftime.

Kang made it four after pouncing on a horrendous defensive mistake from the Ming Chuan defense and Huang Chun-lin headed home for another goal. Kang then completed his hat-trick with a potential goal of the season after dribbling half the length of the field before chipping the onrushing keeper. Naoki Kaneko completed the demolition job with a firm finish after winger Lin Chen danced his way into the box after a great run down the left-flank.

Taichung Futuro: 4 – Taichung Rock: 0

Futuro came out on top in a grudge match but they had to do it the hard way against a dogged crosstown rival. Ryota Saito opened the scoring after shooting high into the roof of the net following a goalmouth scramble.

Some dogged Rock defending kept the scoreline close until the sixty-third minute when a tidy through-ball from Shohei Yokoyama was fired home by full-back Chen Hung-wei. A pin-point longball from Chen Ting-yang then allowed Saito to get his second of the night as the Japanese striker finished with a nonchalant chip over the keeper. Futuro then made it four with twelve minutes remaining when teenager Lai Yi-chiao cut inside from the left and fed Cheng Hao, who nutmegged the keeper in the act of scoring.

Tainan City: 2 – Tatung FC: 1

A frantic last thirty minutes ended with Tainan getting the win but they had to come from behind to do it. A foul by Esteban Gomez allowed Tatung to take the lead from the penalty spot via Yu Chia-huang.

Tainan then had a penalty of their own after , although replies suggested the decision leveled the game from the penalty spot when Chao Wei Chieh appeared to fell Li Bo-you in the box. Replays suggested the contact was not clearcut enough to justify a foul being called but that mattered little to Facundo Aranda, who buried the spot kick into the roof of the net.

The home team then got the wining goal three minutes from the end when Jhon Benchy saw his shot saved at close range only for his fellow Taiwan national team player Fong Shao Chi to smash home the rebound.

Photo Credit: Hang Yuan