IT ALL began with a lion dance and culminated with the Jaguars being winners both on and off the pitch when they lifted the Tiger Beer Singapore Cup at the National Stadium.

While the players carved out a stylish 2-0 win over defending champion Singapore Armed Forces FC on the pitch, it was the 4,000-strong army of Tanjong Pagar United fans which won the battle of the stands on Saturday.

Two of the best goals seen at Kallang since the inauguration of the S-League in 1996 were matched by a giant banner, a jersey that would take 10 of the 1.97-metre-tall Nicodeme Boucher to fill and fancifully painted faces among the fans.

But what surprised everyone, and perhaps sounded the alarm bells in the Warriors' den, were the lions that trooped onto the pitch minutes before kick-off.

They pranced around like professionals, leaped up and down and threatened the Warriors with their fierce lunges but who would have guessed that the performers were only 11 to 15-year-olds.

Christine Kong, Tanjong Pagar's public relations manager who arranged for dancers with the Bukit Merah Boys' Club, said: "We wanted to do something different, yet involve the community around us. It was nice of the Boys' Club to lend its support.

"I think that its handing over of the big jersey to our mascots for good luck really worked."

No wonder then that when the match started, the drum beat from the west of the grandstand, where the Jaguar fans never stopped singing, drowned all else.

Indeed the atmosphere was so electrifying that pressmen took turns to go out and soak it in.

Besides cheering on their team, the Jaguars' corner also brought cheer to charitable organisations in Queenstown when it sold more than 1,000 mini flags at $2 each, the proceeds of which will go to charity.

Fan club member Malcolm Loh, a software engineer who handles the club's web site, said: "All of us had waited for more than three years for the day when we would shed our bridesmaid gown and be the bride.

"So you can understand why we never stopped singing. I think you will agree with me when I say we beat the Warriors' fans as handsomely as our team beat theirs on the pitch."

This is not to say that SAFFC fans were taking all this sitting down quietly. They were provided with large balloons which helped make their presence felt and they too cheered their team almost non-stop.

Still it got harder to cheer as they watched their team go down and in the end, even the fans conceded defeat.

So Sembawang Rangers fans watch out. Tanjong Pagar fans will have something else up their sleeves again as they watch their side take on the Stallions in this week's Singapore Pools FA Cup final at the same venue.