March 6, 2004

Roundup of the week S-league matches

The first match of 2004 S-league season saw the Japanese club Albirex Niigata crushing former giant Tanjong Pagar 3-0 at Queenstown

Albirex coach Hiroashi Ohashi was beaming at the blow of the final whistle as he stated it was a great start to the season & the result was better than he expected. His opposite number, Moey Yoke Ham, was gracious in defeat & claimed credit should be given to Albirex as they played the right brand of football & given their fitness were the better team.

The champion had a scare as they had a poor match in the opener but were still a class apart from Sinchi. A mistake from Protectors keeper Sean Roberts had almost allowed Sinchi to steal a point after an early strike by Emgar Gonclaves. 2003 Player of the Year Peres De Oliveira seal a victory for the Protectors when he strike to kill off Sinchi.

Protectors Coach Steve Darby refused to pin the blame on Roberts stating it was a well-taken free kick & the keeper had make some good saves in the game.

A match which saw 2 sending off in the first half from both sides leaving both coaches fuming with the referee. 2 goals from Rams foreign import Park Kung Guy & John Wilkinson in the second half seal them 3 points.

Both coaches had a blast at the referee Vijay after the match

Bewildered SAFFC coach Jimmy Shoulders stated it was a disgrace as there was no contact, no intention & it does not even warrant a booking. Woodlands' player-coach Simon Clark agreed & stated the sending off has to be looked at again.

The battle of last season bottom 2 teams ended in a thrilling draw. The Tigers took the lead twice but both times the Young Lions came back & nearly steal the victory except for a horrible Fadzuhasny Juraimi blunder with the goal at his mercy.

The Tigers took the lead after Korean Hea Sae Gyu had deceived the Young Lions defence with a classy dummy, Zainal Zainuddin had ample space to beat Lionel with a deflected shot from outside the box. The home team never let their heads drop after conceding the goal & hit back through skipper Baihakki Khaizan who had the simple task of tapping the ball in after a low cross from Fadzu had evaded the entire Balestier backline.

With the score tentatively at 2-2, both teams went for the jugular in the dying minutes of the game and the Young Lions could have won it if not for Fadzu horrible miskick in the 89th minute. Khairul Amri had split open the Tiger defence with a tantalizing ball from the right which found Fadzu totally unmarked in the box. However, to the horror of everyone in the stadium, the national striker somehow contrived to get the ball stuck under his left foot just when he was about to shoot allowing Bashir to gather the ball.

Both coaches were pleased with the result but admitted there were areas to improve.

A thriller was fought in the Eastern Derby as the Eagles were down to 10 men in the 1^st half when Nahar Daud was send off. Still they deal with it & took a 3-1 lead against the Stags but the superior number of the Stags took its toll on the Eagles with them allowing the to fight back to a 3-3 draw.

New Stags signing Santi Chaiyaphuak had given the Stags the lead when he opened the scoring. Mirko Grabovac cross from the right had slipped across the entire Geylang backline and when it found Santi at the opposite end, he had the simplest of chances, tapping the ball into an empty goal. Geylang United forward Hafiz Rahim, back from a season-long injury, though leveled the score shortly after when he finished off in similar fashion. This time round, it was the turn of Aleksander Duric to break free down Tampines’ left side before crossing in for Hafiz to tap in at the far post. Noor Ali then presented his side with the lead when he connected well to a corner. The player had left his marker dead to plant home an unstoppable header past Rezal Hassan for his goal.

Nahar Daud then got himself send off when he pulled down Santi just when he was about to make the cross. Referee Shamsul Maidin displayed little sympathy, showing Nahar his second yellow card & an early shower.

Despite starting the second half a man short, the Eagles made nothing out of it & when Aleksander Duric profited off a Stags mistake to give his side a comfortable 2-goal lead, the match must seem over. Thai defender Choketawee Promrut had completely made a meal of his clearance, allowing Duric plenty of space to goal. The burly forward stormed down the length of half a pitch before coolly slipping the ball under the diving body of Rezal to make the score 3-1.

But there was a Stags fightback when a Santi cross failed to find Ismail Fitrey but instead bounced off Nor Rahman shin & into goal. Towards the end, Mirko Grabovac punished scrappy defending with the equalizing goal in injury time.

Both coaches were contend with the result.