Striker Nguyen Viet Thang (L) celebrates with coach Tran Cong Minh after scoring the opener but Dong Tam Long An was held to a 2-2 draw with defending champions Binh Duong

Defender Nirut’s second half own goal caused Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) to miss its chance to top Vietnam’s top-flight V-League after the sixth round Sunday.

Last week’s table leader Nam Dinh dropped a place because of their away defeat to the Military Zone Fourth, while Da Nang leapt from fourth in a spectacular 5-0 win over Thanh Hoa to overtake HAGL, Nam Dinh and Khanh Hoa to top the league.

Khanh Hoa lost to The Cong. Both teams had pretty good matches in the first rounds of the league, but disappointed the crowd Sunday at Hanoi’s Hang Day Stadium.

Players from both teams looked nervous perhaps because the national team head coach Henrique Calisto was on the stand.

The second half looked better than the first and The Cong took a good chance to score the sole goal of the match. Khanh Hoa had an opportunity to score an equalizer but Jonathan failed to convert it.

The Cong moved up to seventh place from tenth while Khanh Hoa fell from second to fourth place.

Da Nang’s players played superbly and took control of their match. The central club danced around the northern Thanh Hoa’s defenders with two goals in the first half and three in the second.

The loss indicated that Thanh Hoa would probably be relegated to the second-flight First Division at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, champions Binh Duong fought to a 2-2 away draw with the runners-up Dong Tam Long An (DTLA) in the Mekong Delta.

A brace of goals by striker Nguyen Viet Thang near the end of the first half and after half time put DTLA in the lead, forcing Binh Duong’s Portuguese coach Francisco Vital to strengthen the front line to launch more attacks.

The visiting Binh Duong played better and equalized the score thanks to the home team’s mistakes. Binh Duong would have taken a victory had DTLA’s goalkeeper Phan Van Santos not had an exceptional performance.

The draw keeps DTLA in the middle of the table and defending champions Binh Duong still in the relegation zone.

The Military Zone Fourth proved a strong team with a 3-2 victory over Nam Dinh. The home team scored all the three goals in the first half and in the second half they didn’t play as hard. Yet Nam Dinh could only score two.

Nam Dinh lost its top spot with the loss while the Military Zone Fourth moved four places to fifth.

Bottom-placed Hai Phong remains there after its goalless draw with Dong Thap from the Mekong Delta. The team from the northern city attacked more and had some chances but they wasted all. They were given a penalty kick but walked away with nothing.

Elsewhere, HCMC Club defeated T&T Hanoi 2-1 at Thong Nhat Stadium and moved one place up from the relegation zone while the team from the capital dropped to tenth from fifth spot.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff