May 9, 2004
Roundup of the week S-league
May 4, 2004 Toa Payoh
|
Balestier Khalsa |
2 |
2 |
Albirex Niigata |
|
Hea Sae Gyu 40' Lee Ho Sung 55' |
Kenji Arai 83' Bong Il Lee 90' |
The Tigers looking to bridge the gap between them & the mid-table teams lost 2 valuable points when they threw away a 2 goals lead in the last 10 minutes of the match.
The Tigers played well against the Swans as the Tigers shaky defence held up well against the Swans attack. The Tigers also launched dangerous attacks & they could even have taken the lead as Park Tae Won hit the Swans crossbar twice
5 minutes before the half time, Sazali started a move which earned Balestier their first goal of the game when he slipped the ball past two Albirex midfielders to Hae Sae Gyu who in turn put Park Tae Won through on goal with a defender at his back. The defender left with no choice pulled down Park Tae Won. Hea Sae Gyu scored from the resulting spot-kick.
In the second period, the Tigers continued where they left off with resolute defending & dangerous moves against the Swans.
With their excellent form it was no surprise when the second goal came. From a corner Roniwardi corner Lee Ho Sung glancing header flew past keeper Nobuhiro Maeda with him beaten all the way.
2 goals up & the Tigers looked comfortable with the victory looking secure.
It was not to be though as the Swans finally struck when Kenji Arai rifled a shot past Bashir, setting up an intense climax to the game. Making it more interesting was that the referee added 5 minutes of injury time & deep into that injury time he awarded a disputed corner to the Swans. The Swans took full advantage when Tigers goalkeeper Bashir Khan who had the ball in his hands fell back. The referee blew for a goal sparking anger among the Tigers at the end of the match as they felt the ball did not cross the line & in the first place the corner should have been awarded.
May 5, 2004 Jalan Besar
|
Young Lions |
4 |
1 |
Sinchi |
|
Itimi Dickson 40' Precious Emuejeraye 73' Fadzuhasny Juraimi 75' Agu Casmir 81' |
Hu Jun 18' |
Sinchi made the headlines for the wrong reasons again in their 1-4 mauling by the Young Lions after dishing out a performance which can be described as nothing short of disgraceful.
They failed to complete the match with 11 men with Liang Fuming and Zhang Zhimin getting their separate marching orders in the second half. It could have worse for Sinchi as player-coach Xie Yuxin, Liu Bin & Zhou Fanqiang were lucky to escape with only yellow cards for throwing themselves into wild career-ending challenges at their opponents towards the end of the game.
When the final whistle was blown, the Jalan Besar faithful made no secret of their disgust at the Sinchi players by greeting them with cries of boos as they trooped off the pitch & they deserved every moment of it
May 6, 2004 Choa Chu Kang
|
SAFFC |
4 |
0 |
Tanjong Pagar United |
|
Dalis Supait 9' Keita Boubacar 43' Ashrin Shariff 55', 89' |
Struggling Jaguars make history as they become the first S-league club to lose all their opening 9 matches after a thrashing handed out by the Warriors.
Along with they also ended the first round without any single point
May 7, 2004 Tampines
|
Tampines Rovers |
1 |
1 |
Woodlands Wellington |
|
Mirko Grabovac 5' |
Park Kung Guy 43 |
It was a match that proved how important a keeper could mean in the title battle.
The Rams went a goal behind early in the game when Jaslee handled the ball inside the area under pressure. For that Jaslee got a yellow which will come back to haunt him later in the match. Mirko Grabovac stepped up to put the Stags into the lead from the spot.
2 minutes before the end of the half, John Wilkinson took advantage of a lapse in the Stags defending to push forwards just outside the box & fireda shot that was parried by Rezal Hassan into the path of Park who reacted well to head past the keeper.
The second half the Rams had their work cut out for them after Jaslee Hatta received his second booking & consequently his marching orders after bringing down Ismail Fitrey.
The Rams troubles would have been compounded further had Yazid not came to Rams aid again & again as he single handed thwarted the Tampines attack to ensure the Rams walked away with 1 point.
May 9, 2004 Bedok
|
Geylang United |
2 |
4 |
Home United |
|
Daniel Hill 74' Noor Ali 86' |
Egmar Goncalves 23', 38' Indra Sahdan Daud 30' Azhar Baksin 83' |
In the battle of the Singapore Asia representatives, the Double Champion came out on top yet again as they destroyed the Eagles.
In 23 minute of play when Egmar Goncalves broke through the Eagles backline & fired in a left foot shot on the turn, giving the Champion the lead. The Champion doubled the lead on the half hour mark after superb approach play involving J. Surachai, Peres De Oliveira & Indra resulted in Indra being put through just inside the box. The Sigapore international striker showed a decisive piece of finishing, firing in on his second touch, giving Shahril no chance. Indra turned provider 8 minutes later when he played in Egmar with an outside foot pass after cutting in from wide on the right. The Singapore ex-international timed his run into the box to perfection & needed only to side foot past Shahril.
Coming out of the half-time break with a 3 goal lead, the Double Champion expectedly took their foot off the accelerator & paid for it in the when the Eagles pulled a goal back. Rudy Khairon free kick from the right was met by Daniel Hill, whose looping header caught out Sean Roberts
The goal stung the Protectors & they rose from their slumber to reply with another goal. Man of the match, Indra Sahdan was brought down by Jerry Bartholomuesz in the box just when he looked to be on his way to getting his second of the night & Azhar Baksin scored from the spot. Jerry Bartholomuesz pay for it with a sending off.
The Score though was kept respectable as the Eagles put in its second consolation goal, with Noor Ali’s teasing shot curled in just inside the post as Roberts looked on rooted to the spot.
Still the Double champion notched up another victory to close their gap at the top with the Rams.