July 9, 2004

Roundup of the week S-league

July 7, 2004 Tampines

Tampines Rovers	5	1	Albirex Niigata
Noh Alam Shah 29’ Sead Muratovic 36’, 45’ Aliff Shafaein 48’ Mirko Grabovac 84’			Ryuji Sueoka 66’

Tampines Rovers moved up to second place as they inflicted Albirex Niigata biggest loss of the season so far.

The Stags are unbeaten at home for this year's campaign so far & they extended that record when Thai winger Santi Chaiyaphuak latched onto Mustafic Fahrudin's flick & the Thai turned delicately in the box to teed up Noh Alam Shah for the striker to slam high into the net & end his recent goal drought. 7 minutes later, Tampines sweeper Sead Muratovic made it 2-0 with one of his trademark swerving freekicks after Tan Kim Leng had been fouled.

Tan was involved in another incident 2 minutes before the break and it was Nakajima who suffered, seeing red from referee S K Kennedy after felling the Stags midfielder.

A goal soon followed the card before the break, as the threatening Mirko Grabovac burst into the area only to be hauled down by Swans keeper Nobuhiro Maeda. Somehow Maeda stayed on the pitch but he was helpless as Muratovic drove another piledriver into his net for 3-0 going into the break.

More misery follow quickly after the restart for the Japanese in the second half as their offside trap was broken by nippy forward Aliff Shafaein, who hit his fourth goal of the season past Maeda.

The home side then downed the tempo but by now the game was as good as over for the Swans.

The Swans found a consolation goal after 66 minutes, as Ryuji Sueoka scored but Mirko restored a 4-goals difference for the Stags as he scored befpre the end of the game. The veteran forward rolled back the years as he burst past Takeru Arai, sped into the penalty area and snuck his low shot in at Maeda's near post.

July 8, 2004 Woodlands

Young Lions	2	1	Woodlands Wellington
Jamil Ali 59’ Itimi Dickson 83’			John Wilkinson 57’

The Young Lions with a come-back-from-behind victory over Woodlands Wellington leap over the one-time runaway leaders.

Woodlands Wellington suffering their third defeat in four games is in danger of finishing their season in a disaster fashion if results do not improve soon as they are out of the Singapore Cup & the S-league title remain their only hope of a trophy.

However based on recent form & on the night, it would be a mere few more week before they are even out of the title fight as well.

The Rams against the run of play took the lead through a John Wilkinson goal. The Rams earned a freekick within shooting distance in a rare venture into the Young Lions half & Englishman John Wilkinson sent an unstoppable freekick straight into Hassan Sunny’s goal to give the Rams an undeserved lead.

The goal certainly sparked the Young Lions to up the tempo as a few mere minutes later as they found the equalizer. Ridhuan surged forward from the right flank & sent a long cross into the box. Itimi Dickson, who had been playing as striker since the departure of Agu, headed the cross back across the face of the goal & Jamil Ali scored with a volley from inside the six-yard box as the Rams’ defence stood rooted.

With their recent form & results, the Rams seemed to be happy with a draw as they played more defensively after conceding the equalizer as Rams’ forwards Park Kung Guy & Masrezwan Masturi ventured aimlessly upfront with little support from the midfield.

The Rams’ negative tactics were duly punished late in the game when substitute Mustaqim Manzur ventured down the right flank yet again, took the ball past the defender & sent a low driving cross into the danger area. The hardworking Itimi Dickson was well-positioned to slam the ball into the top left-hand corner, way beyond the reach of the diving Yazid Yasin. The Young Lions celebrated wildly & Itimi ran all the way to the far corner to pluck out the corner flag in sheer jubilation, only to be warned by match referee Abdul Razak.

July 8, 2004 Bedok

Geylang United	2	2	Tanjong Pagar United
Aleksandar Duric 2, 24			Haris Sumri 14’ Gimmy Bade 30’

Bottom-of-table club Tanjong Pagar stretched their remarkable unbeaten run to 4 games by coming back twice from a goal down to force a battling 2-2 draw at Bedok

With that result, they have level with Sinchi equal on points but fall 2 points behind the Tigers who got a surprising win against Double Champion Home United.  

July 8, 2004 Choa Chu Kang

SAFFC	2	0	Sinchi
Jonathon Angelucci 55’, 63’

SAFFC easily took apart struggling Sinchi 2-0 at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium as Jon Angelucci was the two-goal hero for the home side

While Jon Angelucci is still not a crowd favourite after his bad start with the club, he is certain showing the way back as his goal purple patch have seen him scored a few important goals for the Warriors which is ensuring they are still in the title fight.

July 8, 2004 Toa Poyah

Balestier Khalsa	3	2	Home United
Igwe Iroha 23’, 92’ Ruhaizad Ismail 30’			Egmar Goncalves 25’, 60’

In what was the most surprising result of the league this week, the Tigers ended their miserable league run of 7 defeats with a victory over Double Champion Home United at Toa Poyah.

The surprising result has meant 5 teams –Home United, Tampines Rovers, Young Lions, Woodlands Wellington & SAFFC - are still in with a chance for the league title.

Only 3 points separate the 5 teams & with 30 points ore to play for before the end of the season it appeared nowhere clear where the title is going.