September 17, 2004

Roundup of the week S-league

September 14, 2004 Woodlands

Woodlands Wellington	4	0	Young Lions
John Wilkinson 61’ Park Kung Guy 71’ Goh Tat Chuan 84’, 90’

The Rams demolished the Young Lions at Woodlands opening up the doors for the Warriors to clinch third position as the Young Lions appear to be faltering at a crucial time in the season with 5 defeats in their last 7 matches.

September 15, 2004 Choa Chu Kang

SAFFC	3	0	Sinchi
Dalis Supait 23’ V Selvaraj 56’ Keita Boubacar 83’

The Warriors won a vital 3 points against Sinchi to ensure the race for third spot would be taken to the last week. The Warriors certainly have a shot at it as the Young Lions have been unable to regain their forms which saw the Cubs fighting for the championship up until the closing stages when the Stags & he Protectors pulled away.

September 16, 2004 Jurong East

Albirex Niigata	0	3	Tampines Rovers
			Noh Alam Shah 45’, 67’ Mirko Grabovac 84’

Tampines Rovers were crowned champions of the 2004 S.League in emphatic style after clinically dispatching hosts Albirex Niigata 3-0 at the Jurong East Stadium.

While closest challenger Home United still had 2 games left to play, it did not matter as the result meant that the Stags now have an unassailable seven-point lead over the Protectors.

However, the Stags were made to work for their victory as they had to weather the early storm from he Swans menacing forays forward before making a crucial breakthrough through Noh Alam Shah on the stroke of halftime. This was followed by a polished performance in the second half that eventually took the wind out of the White Swans.

Goalkeeper Rezal Hassan had played a cruical part in the victory by frustrating the Albirex forwards with a string of crucial saves in the earlier portion of the game. He was first called into action when Norikazu Murakami broke the Tampines offside trap but his shot was well-blocked by the Stags No.1 who came out quickly to cover all angles. Rezal then dived low to keep out free-kick specialist Eiichiro Ozaki’s effort from the top of the box before finally thwarting Issey Nakajima by spectacularly gathering his powerful header which seem destined for the net.

With the danger kept at bay by Rezal hassan the Stags grew in confidence & in a rare attack in the first half Noh Alam Shah put his side ahead when he showed tremendous predatory ability to connect skipper Nazri Nasir’s long punt with a brilliant volley on the stretch that had Albirex custodian Kenichi Matsushita beaten all the way. Albirex custodian Kenichi Matsushita should have come out to gather the ball but as he & his defenders were caught in no man land as whose job it was to clear the ball in a confusion which the Stags benefited. Nevertheless the goal scored was worthy of winning the championship on any other day as it showcased Nazri vision & Alam Shah scoring instinct.

Alam Shah continued displaying his scoring instinct as he scored his second in the second half as he slotted past Matsushita to double Tampines’ lead after Grabovac had chested Tam Kim Leng’s cross from the left into his path. There would have been little time to react as he was guarded by defenders but it was more than enough time for Alam Shah to fire in his shot.

Grabovac completed the scoring for Tampines 6 minutes from time with an accurate downward header after substitute Steven Tan had picked out the Croatian-born hitman with a delicious centre from the right.

With that it was goodnight Swans as the 3 points along with the title going to Tampines