July 24, 2004

Roundup of the week S-league

July 21, 2004 Hougang

Sinchi	1	3	Home United
Li Benjian 57’			Egmar Goncalves 29’, 89’ J Surachai 59’

Home United battled their way to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Sinchi at Hougang Stadium.

Home United had to wait for nearly half an hour before they were rewarded with their first goal of the match when Imran Sahib sent a lobbing ball over the entire Chinese defence & Sinchi defenders rooted to the ground, waiting for the offside flag. Egmar Goncalves playing to the whistle moved in for the kill chesting the ball before unleashing a shot that went into the net. Sinchi were furious with the linesman for not flagging for offside but the goal stood

In the second period, Sinchi came into the second half eager to find the equaliser & they were duly rewarded when Li Benjian netted in Sinchi’s solitary goal through a free kick. The brilliantly taken free kick sailed over the wall & left the keeper Sean Roberts, rooted to the ground. Sinchi were back into the game

However, Home United took the lead again soon after. Four minutes after Sinchi’s equaliser, J Surachai scored Home United second goal of the match. The Protector’s midfielder smashed in the ball from the edge of the penalty box after a poor clearance by Sinchi’s defence. Egmar managed to net his second goal of the night & finally killed off Sinchi in the last moment of the match with the help of Sasikumar. A cross into the box was nodded towards Egmar by Sasikumar & Egmar did not waste the opportunity & put the ball pass the Sinchi keeper to put Home United ahead by two goals

July 21, 2004 Queenstown

TPUFC	0	3	Albirex Niigata
			Eiichiro Ozaki 9’ Ryuji Sueoka 56’ Norikazu Murakami 85’

Jaguars 5 match unbeaten streak came unstuck against the Swans with a 0-3 defeat.

The result meant that the Jaguars is still struck in second-last position in the league.

July 22, 2004 Bedok

Geylang United	0	2	Tampines Rovers
			Aliff Shafaein 44’, 71’

An Aliff Shafaein double either side of half- time gave Tampines Rovers victory over Geylang United to ensure the Stags stay second in the league.

Up until Aliff goal, it appear the first half would end goalless as the Stags did not take their chances.  Aliff netted the goal when Eagles Wayne O' Sullivan could only clear Noh Alam Shah's goal- bound effort to the unmarked youngster, who needed no second invitation from six yards. The second goal came after Nazri Nasir  make a great run from midfield into the ball passing 3 Eagles players before crossing for Aliff. The shortest player on the pitch nodded home Nazri Nasir cross to get his brace.

Eagles hopes of a comeback were virtually extinguished when Hasrin Jailani got himself sent off for a rash tackle after that.

July 22, 2004 Choa Chu Kang

SAFFC	0	1	Woodlands Wellington
			Azmi Mahamud 60’

The Rams ended their 7 match winless streak with a 1-0 victory over the Warriors at Choa Chu Kang.

Azmi Mahamud goal from a scramble after a corner on the hour mark ensure the Rams are still in the hunt for the title while the Warriors hopes looked completely dashed as the Warriors fall 8 points behind leader Home United.

July 23, 2004 Jalan Besar

Young Lions	6	0	Balestier Khalsa
Shaiful Esah 3’ Shi Jiayi 28’, 56’ Ram Shanker 68’, 87’

The Young Lions prepared for their next important encounter against the Stags with a 6-0 demolition of the hapless Tigers.

More impressive about the Young Lions’ huge margin of victory was it was achieved without the help of their main strikers Agu Casmir, Itimi Dickson and Fadzuhasny Juraimi who were all ruled out by injury.

Left-back Shaiful Esah started the rout within 3 minutes of the kickoff with a wicked swerving free-kick which completely bamboozled Tigers custodian Zulkifli Zainolabidin & bounced in off the post. Shaiful the scorer become the creator when he created the second goal with an in-swinging corner which found the head of Shi Jiayi to glance into the roof of the net

Shi Jiayi added his second with a deflected long range shot in the second half. Ram Shanker who came on for Khairul Amri made an immediate impact by scoring the fourth goal. Shanker got the goal at the top of the box with his back towards the Tigers goal but with a great turn he lost his marker & find himself one on one with the keeper firing the ball pass the keeper. The Tigers capitulated & conceded a fifth 5 minutes later when Jamil released Shaiful on the left flank to fire in a low cross to the near post where auxiliary striker Farizal Basri tucked into goal with a cheeky back-heel. Tigers misery was completed 3 minutes from time when wizardry skills from Jamil at the corner flag took out his marker completely, allowing the speedy winger to square for Shanker the simplest task of tapping into an open goal.