An enthralling heavyweight battle in the Metfone C-League yesterday had Svay Rieng escape with a share of the points after Hoy Phallin netted an 89th-minute equaliser to end their game against Naga Corp at three goals a piece.

In the evening kickoff, Phnom Penh Crown smashed Senate Secretariat 8-1 to leapfrog Naga into third in the table.

Svay Rieng had started the brighter of the two top four teams yesterday at Olympic Stadium, with Sok Chanraksmey opening their account after just eight minutes.

However Samoeun Pidor then gifted Naga an equaliser by sticking one in his own net.

Chun Chum took Naga ahead with a goal on the half-hour mark, while Ivory Coast midfielder Anderson Zogbe, who is on loan from Thai Premier League club BEC Tero Sasana FC, scored shortly before the break to bring the sides in at 3-1 to Naga.

Svay Rieng remained resolute and fought back to give themselves a glimpse of hope on 77 minutes via Nigerian signing Tomasz Esua’s strike.

But there still time left to put the icing on the comeback cake for Svay Rieng as Hoy Phallin hit a last-gasp leveller to seal a share of the spoils.

Crown demolish Senate to go third

The later match featured another demoralising rout for the rock-bottom Senate side, although they gave Crown an early shock by going ahead with just nine minutes on the clock thanks to Puch Savuth.

Crown quickly moved to establish a foothold in the fixture and Dutch recruit Elroy van den Hooft edged open the floodgates with a goal on 21 minutes.

It was to be the first of four fantastic scores from the impressive frontman as his team ran rampant throughout the rest of the game.

South Korean Lee Ha-Neul and Hong Pheng chalked up a goal each leading up to the interval, and then a second-half hat-trick by Van den Hooft was compounded by late strikes from Lay Makara and Khim Borey.

Police edge Asia Europe University

Outpaced in the first half of the league season, National Police Commissary needed to pick up a full set of points against one of the back-enders in Asia Europe University when the two met in the only game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium.

The Police had to do it the hard way, wearing down AEU 2-1.

If there is one player who has done a merry-go-round in the last few years, swinging from one club to the other, it is former national player Nuth Sinoun. He is now with the University-backed side and he showed his battle scars when driving the team to a 13th-minute lead.

That early goal for AEU was enough to raise a red flag in the Police camp. Though the side spent a few anxious moments trying to close in, the equaliser came 16 minutes later through Sok Va, who completed his own double a minute before half-time.

Neither team managed to put the ball in the net in the next session and Police were more than happy to hear the final whistle go. 

Additional reporting by Chorn Norn