Match Number: 061
Date 24 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Woodlands Wellington FC Away Team Singapore Armed Forces FC
Stadium Woodlands Attendance 2188
Referee N Santhan Reserve Referee Sagadavan Reddy
Assistant Referee 1 Mohd Ali Assistant Referee 2 George Lee
Match Commissioner K Kandasamy
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Nawfal Shahib (Woodlands Wellington FC)
Match Details
By Darren Lim
24 May 2001
Look out for this name, Nawfal Shahhib.
The 22 years old Woodlands midfielder's name was in everybody's lips after a game that SAFFC registered their fourth defeat of the season. Nawfal looked threatening whenever he ran from deep against the depleted Army team.
"He is a bright guy. When Ragus was still around, it was difficult for him to shine in midfield. But tonight, he had the chance to perform and you all saw it for yourselves!" said Woodlands team manager, R Vengadasalam after his team's 2-1 victory over last year's league champion.
Despite missing the services of key players like Mirko Grabovac, Goran Galov, Kiatisuk Senamuang, Rzaif Mahamud and Rezal Hassan, the game started with SAFFC applying early pressure to the host.
Woodlands handled the pressure well and with confidence but they had to concede the first goal as early as the 14th minute. Skipper Nazri Nasir worked down the right bye-line before centering cross into the penalty box. Rafi Ali finished off with a looping header that gave Faizal Ali, his younger brother who stands in between the posts for Woodlands, no chance.
While the Warriors sat on the one goal lead, Woodlands was allowed to come at them. After Josko Parac, Jaykanth Jeyapal and Esad Sejdic were unfortunate with their chances, Woodlands' equalizer had to come from the spot-kick. Nor Azman Hussain was charging into SAF's penalty when he was knocked down. The 32 years old took the penalty himself and the Rams equalized in the 41st minute.
5 minutes after the break, Woodlands nearly went ahead. Off a counter attack, Nawfal Shahhib's first timer went inches wide. As time went on, confidence grew at Woodlands camp and they stepped up their attacking powers against the Warriors.
Former Geylang favorites and current SAF bench-warmers, Vincent Sim and Razali Johari were given their first senior appearances this season when coach Fandi Ahmad brought them onto the field early in the second half. Razali's entry created some sparks in Warriors' attacking third but it was Warriors' defence that was caught. Skipper Jeykanth Jeyapal was brought down by SAF's Yunos Abdul Samad in the 68th minute. Nor Azman took the penalty but the ball skinned off the goal post.
In the 74th minute, Razali cleverly took on 2 defenders in the box before releasing to an unmarked Azhar Salleh. But the former international blasted the ball to the wrong side of the upright.
After his 76th minute's attempt went closely off target, Grant Crawford made his shot from outside the box counted two minutes later, with the help of a deflection, to give the underdogs the lead.
Warriors threw all that they have at Woodlands but the scoreline remained unchange.
It was a surprise result that matched with a surprise response from Fandi Ahmad when he was interviewed after the defeat. "I am very happy tonight. I feel proud of my players, because they had tried their best. We may have lost tonight but we will definitely come back with this kind of performance. We were unlucky to lose."
"We are down but we are not out!" said SAFFC Manager, LTC Kok Wai Leong, "From now on, we will change our role from a 'Title favorite' to a 'Spolier'."
Agreeing with Fandi, Kok was not disappointed with the defeat to Woodlands, "To me, the greatest disappointment tonight was the profile leading to this game. I did not see many people write about this match prior to the game."
OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT BELOW
Woodlands Wellington FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
15 Nor Azman Hussain 40
8 Grant Cameron Crawford(de-registered) 77
Singapore Armed Forces FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
17 Rafi Ali 14
Woodlands Wellington FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
10 >> 16 Jeykanth Jeyapal >> Haslizan Hassan 90
Singapore Armed Forces FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
6 >> 4 Vincent Sim >> Hairi Su'ap 51
21 >> 22 Mohd Noh Alam Shah >> Razali Johari 56
19 >> 23 Dalis Supait >> Masrezwan Masturi 77
Woodlands Wellington FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
11 Esad Sejdic 34
12 Miroslav Kuljanac 45
Singapore Armed Forces FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
17 Rafi Ali 50
20 Yunos Abdul Samad 67
Match Number: 062
Date 24 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Marine Castle United FC Away Team Sembawang Rangers FC
Stadium Hougang Attendance 2850
Referee Krishan Lai Giri Reserve Referee T.Ramesh
Assistant Referee 1 Naseer Hussain Assistant Referee 2 M.Ganesan
Match Commissioner A.Raamasamy
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Amos Boon (Marine Castle United FC)
Match Details
By Jean-Luc Dylan
(Written on 25 May 2001)
Marine Castle has done it again! After beating the Mighty warriors at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium last week, the Dolphins earned their 2nd victory of the season tonight as they defeated a full strength Sembawang Rangers with a 1-0 scoreline. The scoreline also means a 2nd clean sheet for the Hougang side.
Despite being on a high after last week victory, many still doubted that the Dolphins would stand a chance against Sembawang as the team Rangers would be welcoming back their senior Thai International players Tawan Sripan and Thawachai Ontrakul.
Right from the start of the game, it was the Dolphins that had the upper hand. After having their 5th minute shot at goal saved by Yazid Yasin, the Dolphins continued to throw all they have at the National Under-23 goalkeeper. As usual, the defence department of Sembawang is still their weakest link despite having the services of Yazid. Often caught off guard and lack of understanding among the defence were what cost the ranger another game tonight. In the 29th minute, Thomas English send a free kick from the center half into the Stallions' panalty box, the ball reached Ashrin Shariff, whose skillful back header found Adrain Yeo. Yeo showed no mercy against his SEA Games teammate, Yazid, as he finished off with a cooly volley before Yazid could even comes near him.
Yeo, however, could not continue in the 2nd half as a badly timed tackle from Statria Mad injured his ankle badly.
The return of Tawan Sripan and Thawatchai Ongtrukul did not help the Stallions much as they were closely marked throughtout the game by a tight Dolphins' defence. Alan Vest, who finally found the right element to turn the Dolphins around, was not statisfied with just a goal lead. He instructed his players to move forward. Unable to widen the scoreline further, the Dolphins was pretty much saved by their goalkeeper Amos Boon who had an impressive game tonight. Beside clearing the danger for the Dolphins on countless occassions, Boon also manage to save a penalty kick taken by Tawan Sripan in the 66th minute courtesy of a hand ball by Raymond Williamson in the box.
Marine Castle United FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
15 Adrian Yeo 28
Marine Castle United FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
7 >> 26 Norisham Musahar >> Rosmaini Johari 43
15 >> 19 Adrian Yeo >> Mohd Nor Zadi 46
Sembawang Rangers FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
14 >> 39 M Ramesh >> Azul Juahryzam 81
Marine Castle United FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
20 Noraidit Mahat 88
Sembawang Rangers FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
9 Bamrung Boonprom 76
5 Satria Mad 90
Match Number: 063
Date 25 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Home United FC Away Team Gombak United FC
Stadium Bishan Attendance 3107
Referee Timothy Dennison Reserve Referee Ismail Surdi
Assistant Referee 1 S. Ragavachari Assistant Referee 2 K. Subramaniam
Match Commissioner Mohd Esa Muin
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Effendy Subtu (Gombak United FC)
Match Details
By Chang Kay Leong
Gombak visited Bishan Stadium gambling on defence, but their wager did not pay off as late goals from Yazid Sawal and Peres de Olivera gave Home United the odds-on win.
But for the late double, the Bulls might have escaped with a point, having held Home firm for three-quarters of the match.
The Home attacking trio of Peres, Indra Sahdan and Egmar Goncalves was, for just over 70 minutes, effectively matched by Gombak? defensive triangle of Iswandy Amil, Bah Mamadou and keeper Effendy Subtu.
25-year-old Effendy was in fine form, despite conceding two goals, and may finally be fulfilling the potential so many coaches have waited for.
Former Home toughie Iswandy too may have established himself in the Bulls?side with a battling performance in central defence along with the athletic Mamadou.
But both were unable to prevent Home? ice-breaking goal in the 72nd minute, as a long cross from Edson Garcia on the right evaded everybody in the Gombak box ?except an unmarked Yazid Sawal at the far post.
Substitute Yazid? tap-in gave Gombak no choice but to advance in search of a goal for themselves, but in truth, the Bulls hardly looked like scoring despite the addition of substitute striker Alioune N?iaye.
Australian N?iaye suffered the ignominy of being replaced himself, by Firdaus Salleh five minutes from the end, just after Home sealed the match.
A corner from the left was deftly swung in by Harun Juma?t, and Brazilian Peres turned a peach of a chance into a peach of a goal, with a bullet header into the left hand side of the goal leaving Effendy no chance.
Inevitably, Gombak coach Moey Yok Ham will face some criticism for adopting a backs-to-the-wall attitude, but his decision may have something to do with the fact that Gombak had in previous seasons been thrashed 8-3 and 4-0 here at Bishan.
For a large part of the match, the only Bulls?players advancing significantly during an attack were Guineans Ballamodou Conde (whose passing tonight was unusually inept), Diallo Abdullaye and recent Lions recruit Azhar Jamil.
The effect was that although the home side pounded Effendy? goal, they had little satisfaction until Yazid? breakthrough effort. The lively Peres, Egmar, Indra all had a multitude of shots saved by Effendy, or blocked by Iswandy and Mamadou.
Although the two young Lions Indra and Azhar did not score, they impressed with their committed spadework, both working hard through the full 90 minutes despite having played a international on Tuesday.
One particular incident has to be singled out for praise ?with his team 1-0 up, Indra lost the ball near Gombak? penalty area after a Conde tackle, and tracked the Guinean right through into the other half, eventually dispossessing Conde.
For the Bulls, all their sweat work was to little avail tonight, and they continue their inconsistent run this season.
Home United FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
17 Yazid Sawal 71
10 Peres De Oliveira 85
Home United FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
2 >> 17 Ong Leon Koen >> Yazid Sawal 64
20 >> 14 George Kulcsar >> Roniwardi Mamsa 75
13 >> 4 R Sasikumar >> Mardani Fatahollah 84
Gombak United FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
17 >> 17 Jorg Steinbrunner >> Alioune N'Diaye 62
16 >> 11 Iswandy Amil >> Jaesni Othman 80
17 >> 30 Alioune N'Diaye >> Firdaus Salleh 85
Home United FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
5 Aide Iskandar 30
4 Mardani Fatahollah 87
Gombak United FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
3 Khairi Mawi 76
Match Number: 064
Date 25 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Jurong FC Away Team Geylang United FC
Stadium Jurong East Attendance 3017
Referee R Vijay Reserve Referee N Santhan
Assistant Referee 1 Lutfi Emir Assistant Referee 2 John Chia
Match Commissioner S. Mahalingam
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Itimi Dickson Edherefe (Jurong FC)
Match Details
by Muhammad Yunus Mirza
25 May 2001
Jurong Cobras clearly affirmed its desires to be in the running for the a winner's medal with a hallmark of a performance last night. As anticipated, the much-hyped clash between the front-runners of the League lived up to expectations and on its way, springed up few surprises of its own. Jurong endured the wrath of an undefeated Eagles for what seemed like eternity, before registering a hard-fought 3-2 scoreline over them. Playing on home soil, the onus was on the Cobras to bring back the points and they took it with much aplomb right from the start. In contrast, Geylang looked ragged and had only themselves to blame upon being inflicted with their first defeat of the campaign.
Ironically, the visiting Eagles transcended into the game faster than the Cobras, luring out their opponents with their fluent passage of play. Though they started off well, the fact that they were missing out on suspended Billy Bone stood out like a sore thumb. Young Syed Fadhil was given the daunting task of filling that void but to no avail. Jurong might have taken more time to settle into the game but Itimi's 6th minute shot over the bar set the trend of the game. Spurred on by their ever so vehement crowd, they settled down and took charge of the game. They were all over the shop, especially so down the right flank. Korean's Park Tae Won and Nigerian youngster, Itimi Dickson combined well with local, Goh Tat Chuan to torment the Eagles' defence.
After both sides had their fair share of firing blanks, the 1st goal of the night couldn't have come at a more ideal time. Off a free-kick, Geylang old boy, E Manimohan crafted a delightful cross into the box. The mere presence of Bojan Hodak was enough to intimidate the Eagles such that when the ball rolled onto the path of unmarked Goh Tat Chuan, the latter had enough time to control the ball before slipping it in between the legs of the advancing Shahril Jantan to put Jurong ahead in the 25th minute. Almost instantaneously, Jurong built up another attack only for Noor Ali to clear safely. Tat Chuan's goal seemed to wake the slumbering Eagles up as barely 5 minutes later, they leveled the score with the simplest of goals, courtesy of a well-engineered set-up. Winston Yap, who for some unexplained reason, captained the Eagles last night, found an unmarked Bothwell, who in turn relayed it to the ever so opportunistic Doric. In fine form and a goal to shoot at, he did the unorthodox and selflessly squared the ball to Noor Ali, who bundled the ball home past a fumbling Bashir Khan. But even before the Eagles could rejoice in Noor Ali's equalizer, the echoing of the kompangs was once again brought to a standstill, when Itimi netted a flawless, individualistic goal. As if lulled into complacency, Itimi muscled his way past Noor Ali before unleashing a "goal-of-the-season" contender. His powerful shot, somehow managed to squirm its way through to the top right corner. That goal, not only restored Jurong's lead, but it also reverted the game back to its original state. Just before half time, Duric missed out on a golden opportunity when he failed to capitalize on a Bojan Hodak's miskick. Accolade should be given to Bashir who was alert enough to come off his line and pressure Duric to shoot wide.
Geylang came out of the interval the stronger of the two. They had greater possession of the ball in the opening minutes but had not enough flair to conjure up a goal. Instead, it was Jurong who took the initiative to come up with their 3rd goal in the 52nd minute. A long drop kick from Bashir was awkwardly headed back by Winston Yap and just to vouch that luck wasn't on their side, it fell perfectly to the feet of Park Tae Won. The Korean, took on a defender and outpaced him before planting a firm grounder past a despairing Shahril. Having conceded soft goals, it wasn't doing Shahril's morale any good and Jang Jung's uncanny decision to replace him with Lewis Lionel only exacerbated situation.
As E Manimohan marshaled his side to dominance of the midfield zone, Billy Bone could only watch in despair as the Eagles slowly succumbed itself to annihilation. After their 3rd goal, the Cobras dropped a gear and were literally playing to time whilst the Eagles frantically searched for goals . They seem contented with the result. Even Itime, who had been industrious all day long, seemed laid-back and scoffed a great chance to extend Jurong's lead when he placed the ball on the wrong side of the post, with only the keeper to beat. Towards the end, Geylang, sensing that they had nothing to lose, became more attack-oriented and pushed their men up. Fairly enough, they got their reward when Noor Ali got his 2nd goal of the game. Basri Halis' free kick, 10mins from time, evaded everyone except Bothwell. The Englishman, sneaked behind the lethargic Cobras and headed across and in similar fashion, Noor Ali was there to notch his 2nd goal of the game. Jurong, throwing more caution to the wind, played a safe game and defended in numbers. The drama wasn't over yet. Just when everyone thought that the game was sealed, Noor Ali received a pass from Bothwell and lobbed a header into the net. As melodramatic as it could get, many hearts skipped a beat only to realize that the goal will not stand as he was already in an offside position.
At the press conference, Jang Jung acknowledged the fact that his boys played below par and deserved to lose. On a brighter note, he hopes that this would serve as a wake up call for them in their championship quest. They take on Tampines at Bedok on Tuesday in the Singapore Cup and should see this as the perfect launchpad for their revival. Sundram, on the other hand, was quick to dismiss his team's chances of winning the league saying that there is still a long way to go. Once a player in a class of his own, Jurong's hard-earned win last night further supports Sundram's success off the field thus establishing him as an equally capable coach. It might have taken a miracle to stop Geylang in their track and inflict them with their 1st loss. But above all, it took the wizardry of Singapore's most talented footballer, V Sundramoorthy!
Jurong FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
19 Goh Tat Chuan 25
22 Itimi Dickson Edherefe 33
16 Park Tae Won 53
Geylang United FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
19 Noor Ali 31
10 Brian Bothwell 81
Jurong FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
9 >> 15 Toh Choon Ming >> T Ramoo 49
14 >> 13 E. Manimohan >> Syed Idros Hassan 64
16 >> 17 Park Tae Won >> Zakaria Awang 87
Geylang United FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
8 >> 37 Nebojsa Vukosavljevic >> Sufian Shamsubari 31
1 >> 20 Shahril Jantan >> Lewis Lionel 57
Jurong FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
6 Tamil Marren 16
12 A Siva Kumar 63
Match Number: 065
Date 26 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Tampines Rovers FC Away Team Clementi Khalsa FC
Stadium Tampines Attendance 2,005
Referee Sagadevan Reddy Reserve Referee Subash Lazar
Assistant Referee 1 Nordin Sawadi Assistant Referee 2 Tan Yew Chong
Match Commissioner Said Nasir
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Ernest Tapai (Clementi Khalsa FC)
Match Details
By Justin Gek
Tampines Rovers suffered another league defeat of 3 ?2 to the Clementi Khalsa at Tampines Stadium last night.
The Stags didn? pick themselves up after their defeat at Gombak last week. It was the same outcome after scoring first. An undesirable bad defeat this time at home. The Elephants stood firm and stuck with their style of attacking football. It was a long wait for the Elephants to win away game and end the first round of the season with a positive note.
The game turned alive and kicking after confident Adriano Reis scored a thunderous 35-metre goal. It was his second effort after the defenders charged the first one down at the same spot. Keeper Subash Nair was beaten all the way before he could do anything about it except picking the ball out from his goal. He was fast in doing that. It resulted a fast restart of the game. And out of the blue, captain Ernie Tapai did a David Beckham? specialty by scoring from the centre circle of the field immediately after the restart.
Poor Tampines keeper Noorisham Zainon was seen at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was on his way back to his goal after joining in the Brazilian goal? celebration. Veteran Ernie Tapai made him pay for his poor appearance.
A goal like this deserved to be nominated as the best goal of the season. Without any doubt it was a man of the match performance. He further cemented his claim after scoring another goal. It turned out to be the winning goal. He powered his way towards goal after receiving a clear through ball from his keeper. He stayed calm despite the onrushing defender and the approaching keeper. He brilliantly tricked young Sead Muratovic to move inside the penalty box and nicely placed the ball beyond the reach of Tampines keeper into the back of the net.
The Elephants ended the first half confidently with striker Hafiz Eash flicking the ball into the net from a free kick. He sneaked behind defender Jerry Bartholomuez without him knowing and timed his move perfectly. He raced into the six-yard box and caught the Tampines defence by surprise.
After the break, the Stags continued their search for the equalizer goal. It didn? come but the Stags had shown plenty of fighting spirit that their fans were proud of. On the other hand the Elephants had not other plans but to win it. The game displayed countless end-to-end actions with both teams fighting hard to gain possession. It was unavoidable that national referee Sagadevan Reddy had to flash two red cards and six yellow cards to the offenders for their unwanted fouls. Both sides were prepared to stop their opponents at all cost.
The underrated Lee Man Hon then helped the Stags to score from his curling free-kick that star striker Marcelo nodded it in at the far post.
Tampines Rovers FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
10 Adriano Reis 25
9 Marcelo Da Silva 76
Clementi Khalsa FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
7 Ernest Tapai 26
6 Hafiz Esah 38
7 Ernest Tapai 54
Tampines Rovers FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
4 >> 8 Rasidi Mostafah >> Nahar Daud 61
Clementi Khalsa FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
9 >> 17 Eric Francis >> A Shasi Kumar 46
14 >> 11 Hasnim Haron >> Fahmie Abdullah 60
20 >> 13 Abdul Wafi Othman >> Sha'izad Jaffar 72
Tampines Rovers FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
11 Joselito Da Silva 22
9 Marcelo Da Silva 43
6 Sead Muratovic 82
Clementi Khalsa FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
20 Abdul Wafi Othman 28
5 Emmanuel Unaka 62
11 Fahmie Abdullah 70
13 Sha'izad Jaffar 74
7 Ernest Tapai 80
Tampines Rovers FC Expulsions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
3 Jerry Bartholomeusz 47
Clementi Khalsa FC Expulsions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
10 Michiaki Kakimoto 47
Match Number: 066
Date 26 May 2001 Time 7:30:00 PM
Competition:
Home Team Balestier Central FC Away Team Tanjong Pagar United FC
Stadium Toa Payoh Attendance 1916
Referee Abdul Malik Reserve Referee Krishan Lai Giri
Assistant Referee 1 Naseer Hussain Assistant Referee 2 John Chia
Match Commissioner Abros Meah
SLEAGUE.COM Man of the Match: Dragan Talajic (Tanjong Pagar United FC)
Match Details
by Ko Po Hui
To be frank to all those, either at the Toa Payoh stadium or the thousands of viewers who catch this match at the comfort of their home. Tanjong Pagar United (sorry, Jaguars fans), they don t really deserve to win this match.
It was crystal clear that Balestier was the side that took the control of the game, right from the start. Only because the visiting side fully make use of opportunities bestowed to them by Lady Luck, they were fortunate enough to bag the 3 precious points.
One such opportunity surfaced on the 11th minute, when veteran winger, Steven Tan creep into the Tiger s backline to unleash an unstoppable volley to give Tanjong Pagar United the advantage, after being at the receiving end of a long lob from the left wing.
However, as mentioned earlier, it was the Tigers who clearly dominated the game, had shown the fans that they werent always deployed the counter-attack tactics to salvage the mess they went through. In less than just 2 minute, skipper Darren Stewarts thunderous shot from 35 meters outside saw the home team on a level term with their much glamorous opponents.
After laying that equaliser as a form of foundation, Balestier Central tried its fortune in seizing the lead, Captain Stewart, this time more or less from the spot he scored the equalizer, tried again but much to his agony, it went centimetres wide
Balestier s chance in wining this game was thought to have boasted, when Croatian marksman Davor Dzelalija trooped out in the 24th minute, to be replaced Zainal Zainuddin. In spite of this, it was the nippy Steven Tan who was clearly the outstanding Jaguars in this game; its all down to his hard running on the right flank that caused the havoc in the Tigers defence.
Second half started in a similar fashion, as Balestier tried to take the lead, through some short passes and patient build up, sorry to say that all it s effort went to waste, when Tanjong Pagar capitalized on another rare opportunity, put it away nicely and regain the lead, which eventually is the winner in the 55th minute.
On-loan Thai midfielder, V Naronchais pin-point free kick from the right edge of the box, cunningly sailed over the Balestier s backline and went in beyond the reach of Denis Lim, the stand-inkeeper for the injured Hairil Amin (shoulder strained, accordingly to coach, Mr P N Sivaji).
In order to preserve that wafer-thin lead, the Jaguars packed its defence like Balestier often did to theirs, and attacked whenever theres any loophole in the Tiger s half.
Unfortunately, up to that stage the Tigers had a fairly good game, maybe it was that untimely 55th strike had somehow demoralised the fighting spirit.
As there s always a saying the game is not over until the final whistle is blown, the home team buck up and regained their lost composure, subsequently carried on their quest for another equalizer, then again they faced another stumbling block in the form of another Croation, keeper Dragan Talajic.
The colossal figure at the Jags goal, for this season had been often criticized for his recent erratic form, except for this encounter. His well positioning in this match had been crucial as he easily smothered several on-target shots without having to make any acrobatic moves, thus allowed his team mates to move swiftly in most of their offences.
Balestier had lost this game even with the dominance they had over the game, what a pity, am I sure to say most of folks would agreed with what I said??
Balestier Central FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
8 Darren Stewart 13
Tanjong Pagar United FC Goal scorers
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
14 Steven Tan 10
37 Narongchai Vachiraban 56
Balestier Central FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
15 >> 14 Aidil Sulaiman >> Yusri Waris 69
Tanjong Pagar United FC Substitutions
Jersey No. Player(Out) >> Player(In) Event Time (min)
10 >> 15 Davor Dzelalija >> Zainal Zainuddin 24
20 >> 3 Hyrizan Jufri >> Erza Aripin 46
4 >> 18 Haris Sumri >> Johaness Idris 83
Balestier Central FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
5 Fabio Da Silva 45
15 Aidil Sulaiman 64
Tanjong Pagar United FC Cautions
Jersey No. Name Event Time (min)
8 Daniel Bennett 12
9 Lim Tong Hai 60