TIGER BEER SINGAPORE CUP SOCCER
Tan's strike sees Tanjong Pagar homing in on its first title

By SANTOKH SINGH

THE two-year wait for Tanjong Pagar United players and fans is finally over as the Jaguars advanced to their first-ever final.

Tanjong Pagar beat Home United 1-0 in the second-leg semi-final of the Tiger Beer Singapore Cup at the Queenstown Stadium last night for an overall 3-2 aggregate.

And as the minutes drew closer to the final whistle, it was obvious that the 3,168 fans at the stadium, and many more in the neighbouring blocks, had suffered long enough.

The non-stop cheers in the last 15 minutes exploded with confetti, screams and tears of relief for some schoolgirls.

It was no less euphoric on the pitch as newly-appointed coach Tohari Paijan ran on to congratulate his charges who, ironically, were once under his opposite number, Robert Alberts.

Goal-scorer Steven Tan, whose 16th goal of the season brought him to within four of the League's top scorer Bogdan Brasoveanu of Tampines Rovers, summed up the feelings best.

The 28-year-old winger, whose career was revived by Tohari, said: "It was really great to get the goal that puts us in our first final.

"We missed it twice and those were really painful days for all of us, but this more than makes up for that."

It did not matter that his 39th-minute goal was a gift from Home goalkeeper Sergio Cleveland. The Brazilian ran out to the top of the penalty box only to collide with defender E. Manimohan and allow Tan to slam into an empty goal.

At the other end, Stuart Young, the player who should have been giving Brasoveanu a run for the $10,000 Golden Boot prize money with his 18-goal tally, was reduced to being a mere passenger.

His best chances came off two free-kicks which were fluffed.

It was no different for his fellow-striker Egmar Goncalves, who failed to shake off the omnipresent S. Subramani.

Alberts gave credit to the Jaguars' defence.

"Tanjong Pagar has the best defence in the League and it is not easy for a player like Stuart Young to break lose under such circumstances. Their midfield was just as strong today," admitted the Dutchman.

The match started at a frantic pace and either side could have taken the lead in the first 20 minutes but all the teams had to show for it were two yellow cards each.

Referee R. Vijay stamped his authority from early on, booking Samawira Basri and Yeo Boon Cheng of Tanjong Pagar and Young and Yusof Hamid of the Protectors.

The cautions doubled as Jaguars Lim Soon Seng and Nicodeme Boucher and Home's Craig Gaunt and Hasrin Jailani joined their team-mates.

The game could have gone into extra-time had Jaguars goalkeeper Dragan Talajic not been equal to Goncalves' strike two minutes from time, but with that chance went Home's hopes of its first-ever final.