The Reviewer: Warriors feeling blue

The Reviewer: Warriors feeling blue

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

If you have any association with SAFFC, the second week of the season could not have felt good at all.

In fact, the only positive to take out of that week would probably be the three points that came against Tanjong Pagar United – and even then, two of those three points almost got away.

Praise should go to the Jaguars for their effort and enthusiasm, of course, but there was no denying the fact that the Warriors did not have the look of champions when they played hosts at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

Despite – or perhaps because of – Richard Bok’s decision to start with three strikers, the team looked so keen to rack up the goals that they seemed to forget that football is a team game.

It showed against Tanjong Pagar in what was probably the best chance to sharpen their game, and the slender 2-1 victory in the end was fortuitous as the visitors’ late attempts on Shahril Jantan’s goal did not produce the equaliser the effort might have deserved.

Geylang United were not so kind to wait until the final minutes to attack the Warriors, though, and an opening barrage of shots on Sunday underlined their intent to take all three points.

Where Kim Jong Oh, Israel Tan and others at Tanjong Pagar failed, Hafiz Rahim and Masrezwan Masturi succeeded in a display that had many in the press box rubbing their eyes in disbelief – and we thought we knew our S.League teams inside out!

“Geylang are actually playing attacking football!” was one of the most-used lines that evening, and fans can only hope that they keep that up when they take on the Courts Young Lions in a few days’ time in the presence of global luminaries Pele and Eric Cantona.

At least things went more smoothly for the other traditional S.League powerhouses, both of whom also had their first home games of the season this week.

Tampines Rovers certainly played out a game that set everyone’s pulses racing, beating Hougang United 5-2 at Tampines Stadium in a game that, at times, looked like it would end up swinging the visitors’ way.

First-half goals from Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin and Aleksandar Duric – the latter coming from a penalty Hougang fans never really seemed to let go of – gave the game a business-as-usual look, and Diego Gama de Oliveira’s hamstring pull seemed to weaken the options for the visitors with an entire half still to play.

But a dramatic collision between Hassan Sunny and Mohd Noor Ali handed them a lifeline, and Carlos Delgado’s penalty conversion had the away fans drooling at the prospect of a comeback.

Even though Duric then got his second goal of the night, Basit Abdul Hamid pinned the hosts back once again with a cool tap-in that might have left Steven Tan worried about dropping points at home, never a good sight when it happens at Tampines.

But as Mamadou Diallo was forced off with an injury himself and Shariff Abdul Samat faded badly in the last 20 minutes, the Stags were able to grab two more goals and seal the points in the last five minutes.

Home United had less to sweat over as they overpowered Gombak United 3-0 at Bishan, though it has to be said two of those three goals came from penalties, neither of which were converted by Frederic Mendy.

At least the opening goal had his imprint on it, the lanky Frenchman letting his industry and determination do the talking on the right flank as he outsmarted Jaslee Hatta and powered a sharp cross that Sufian Anuar glanced home at the near post.

Gombak looked passive at times as they tried to nullify their hosts in midfield, but once Qiu Li came on to replace Farizal Basri at half-time, there was more energy in the Protectors’ game and they steadily gained the upper hand.

One note on the side: The all-seater main stand looked pretty impressive, and was reasonably well-filled for this clash too. Shame about the sandy pitch, though.

Fans wondering where the live telecasts for this year’s S.League season went had their questions answered this week, as details of the deal were hammered out just in time for Etoile FC’s meeting with Balestier Khalsa.

The game, though, wasn’t exactly primetime stuff, as Etoile could not produce the sort of imagination that would have seriously troubled a well-drilled Balestier outfit, leaving goalkeeper Joey Sim with almost nothing to do that appeared anything more than routine.

It was the same story at the other end, though, as Antonin Trilles was allowed to celebrate a second consecutive clean sheet without really doing very much in goal.

That meant Woodlands Wellington were the only home side this week not to pick up a single point, after they lost to Albirex Niigata (Singapore) by a single goal.

Rams coach R. Balasubramaniam ended up taking the headlines for his explosive comments on the refereeing for this match, but the real eyebrow-raiser, at least for this writer, was the team’s ability to hold Albirex to just the one strike credited to Bruno Suzuki Castanheira.

After putting five past Tanjong Pagar the week before, the White Swans were expected to dish out another rout here, but even without the suspended Graham Tatters, Woodlands seemed to do pretty well at the back.

Now let’s see if they can actually go one better and claim a clean sheet against – hold your breath now – Tanjong Pagar. Hmm…

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of FAS and the S.League

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