High flying Guangzhou R&F dispatch disappointing Dalian

Two goals from in-form Davi and a Jiang Ning thunderbolt gave Guangzhou R&F victory over a disappointingly poor Dalian Aerbin side. The visitors were perhaps rattled by the controversial penalty awarded against them in the first half but R&F were untroubled and their keeper Cheng only had to make two saves during the 90 minutes.

R&F showed only one change from the eleven that beat Changchun last Sunday as Zhang Shuo replaced Ken Ilso in attack whilst Aerbin coach Ma Lin used the same line-up that held Shanghai East Asia to a draw in Dalian.

It was raining as the game kicked off and Dalian won their only corner of the game after five minutes but a quick R&F counter saw Wang Xiaolong sprinting down the right wing and his shot was tipped past the post by Dalian’s Zhang Chong. Zhang was also called into action to save Park Jong-Woo’s strike from distance and another Wang effort. In contrast, Cheng Yuelei in goal for the Cantonese made his first save after 24 minutes from a tame Yu Hanchao effort.

Controversy arrived after 32 mintues when the referee awarded the blue and whites a penalty for Jin Pengxiang’s  ‘foul’ on Zhang Shuo. The Aerbin players couldn’t believe it and all eleven swarmed around the referee to argue against the decision. Davi scored the penalty and then the Dalian protesting continued, this time the coaching staff and substitutes getting involved with Chen Tao being sent off without having set foot on the field of play.

Visibly frustrated, a horrific lunge by Lu Peng on Davi brought a freekick but confusingly no card for the Dalian midfielder. Even more confusing was Bruno Meneghel’s reaction as he seems to think a late, two footed slide not worthy of even a freekick; the Brazilian got a yellow card for his protests.

With a vocal Yuexiushan crowd behind them, especially the foreign fans section, R&F kept their composure and saw out the remainder of the half without too much difficulty and almost doubled their lead with a Jiang Ning effort just before the break.

Dalian subs and coaches protest against the awarding of the penalty after Davi had already scored it

Jiang would score his second in two games immediately after the restart though when Wang’s lobbed pass was chested down by Zhang Shuo for Jiang to fire into the roof of the net. Just as against Henan, the blue and whites eased off and Dalian were allowed a chance to get back into the game but Yu Dabao was once hauled down and later unable to recover after a misplaced pass prevented him from having a shooting opportunity.

The Cantonese reasserted themselves for the final half hour of the game though; Zhang beating away a powerful Park shot before tipping Davi’s striker round the post after the Brazilian cleverly made room for himself on the edge of the box. The Dalian defence didn’t heed the warning and a Jiang Ning stepover left Davi free outside the area and this time Zhang couldn’t save the Brazilian’s effort.

The wet conditions meant both sides were making a lot of sliding tackles and an almost identical late tackle on Davi by Lu Peng this time brought the Dalian man a yellow. Sections of the crowd were howling for a red, mistakenly believing that Lu had been booked for the same offence in the first half, and leading to confusion as to why this tackle was worthy of a yellow but the first wasn’t.

Davi picked himself up and continued but left back Jiang Zhipeng, who’d been caught out of position a few times, was unable to and had to be replaced by Li Jianhua. Ken Islo, who came on for the final five minutes, had two great chances to score but couldn’t take either of them as the game ended 3-0.

For a team with such high aspirations Dalian were poor and only managed two shots on target as their struggles to adapt after the loss of key players Rochemback and Keita continue; the Dongbei side host Guizhou in midweek.

Guangzhou R&F chalked up another win as they moved up to second place before Sunday’s games and Davi is fast becoming the key man. Sven will also be pleased with the clean sheet but will hope Hamdallah and Jiang Zhipeng are back for Tuesday’s game away to Shanghai Shenhua.

Guangzhou R & F: 1 – Cheng Yuelei; 20 – Tang Miao, 5 – Zhang Yaokun 15 – Jang Hyun-Soo, 11 – Jiang Zhipeng (67’14-Li Jianhua); 19 – Wang Xiaolong (84’27-Ken Ilso), 10 – Davi 18 – Zhang Yuan, 8 – Park Jong-Woo, 7 – Jiang Ning; 29 – Zhang Shuo

Dalian Aerbin: 1 – Zhang Chong; 4 –Li  Xuepeng 3 – Niklas Backman, 5 – Jin Pengxiang 7 – Zhao Honglue; 8 – Lu Peng (67’12-Zhou Tong), 6 – Zhu Xiaogang, 29 – Sun Bo (58’17-Quan Heng), 22 – Yu Dabao, 20 – Yu Hanchao; 11 – Bruno Meneghel  (76’9-Leon Benko)