S.League - SINGAPORE

  

SECOND PLACE WITHIN TIGERS’ SIGHT

Written by: Nigel Chin

Courts Young Lions vs Balestier Khalsa
(Friday, 31 July, 7:30pm, Jalan Besar Stadium)

Balestier will have a chance to move into second spot should they earn three points against Courts Young Lions on Friday evening.

The Tigers have finished no higher than third place since the inaugural S.League season. However, they have made tremendous improvement in the last couple of years to the point Balestier are now possible title contenders this year.

This is an unexpected scenario after Balestier lost several key players from last year’s Singapore Cup winning team. Many had written the Tigers off, and predicted them to struggle this season.

But Kraljevic has recruited well, and foreigners Miroslav Kristic, Tarik Cmajcanin, Robert Pericic, Emir Lotinac and Igor Cerina have meshed well with locals like Zulkiffli Hassim, Poh Yi Feng and Zaiful Nizam to turn the Toa Payoh-based side into a formidable outfit.

While Kraljevic is still not thinking about the S.League title, he wants his side to continue their good form to cement their status as a top-three side.

“We are looking at third spot, we are on a good run now and hopefully we can keep clean sheets and not lose games. We want to climb the table and slowly close the gap with the top three teams,” he said.

“When you win games, everyone starts getting more confident and everyone gets better.”

Against Courts Young Lions, it will be no simple task though. The Under-23 side are a rejuvenated side since the league resumed and have earned four points in their last three games. This run saw them holding Brunei DPMM to a draw and beating defending champions Warriors FC.

This positive run of form has coincided with new coach Jurgen Raab’s implementation of a possession-based game, which has helped the youngsters to show their potential. The return of experienced stalwarts Sherif El-Masri and Jordan Webb have also helped on the pitch.

Raab’s charges will be playing their fourth game in just 11 days, but he still believes his side will be capable of continuing their run of form.

“If you watched all three previous matches, you can see what’s the style from the team and they bring it on the pitch. It's a pity that at home against DPMM, we did not win but we have a target for the next match against Balestier,” he stated.

Suspensions: Amirul Adli, Afiq Noor (Courts Young Lions)

Key Men To Watch

Courts Young Lions: Adam Swandi

The playmaker was a key player for his team against Brunei DPMM, as they fought back to a draw. It was also his corner that led to El-Masri’s equaliser.

Coach Raab will certainly be hoping for him to put on a similar performance against Balestier, and with Afiq Noor suspended as well, Adam will need to carry more load on his shoulder should the Young Lions want to cause an upset.

Balestier Khalsa: Poh Yi Feng

While it has been Miroslav Kristic who has gotten the goals, and Tarik Cmajcanin the assists, it’s Poh who arguably make everything tick in the engine room.

Under Kraljevic, Poh has slowly evolved into a box-to-box midfielder capable of breaking up attacks and starting one for his team. Up against an energetic Courts Young Lions, Poh’s will need to produce a high-energy performance in the middle of the park once more.

Courts Young Lions - LWLWD

26/07/15         Courts Young Lions 1-1 Brunei DPMM (S.League)
23/07/15         Warriors FC 0-2 Courts Young Lions (S.League)
20/07/15         Courts Young Lions 1-3 Hougang United (S.League)28/04/15         Home United 0-1 Courts Young Lions (S.League)20/04/15         Courts Young Lions 1-2 Warriors FC (S.League)

Balestier Khalsa - DWLWW

27/07/15         Balestier Khalsa 2-0 Harimau Muda (S.League)
23/07/15         Albirex Niigata (S) 0-1 Balestier Khalsa (S.League)
10/07/15         Albirex Niigata (S) 2-1 Balestier Khalsa (League Cup)06/07/15         Balestier Khalsa 3-2 Hougang United (League Cup)26/06/15         Tampines Rovers 2-2 Balestier Khalsa (League Cup)

Head to Head (S.League)

04/04/15         Balestier Khalsa 5 - 1 Courts Young Lions
15/05/14         Balestier Khalsa 3 - 1 Courts Young Lions23/02/14         Courts Young Lions 0 - 4 Balestier Khalsa
27/06/13         Courts Young Lions 1 - 3 Balestier Khalsa
13/03/13         Balestier Khalsa 3-0 Courts Young Lions

AW BELIEVES POINT WAS MERITED

Written by: Nigel Chin

Home United coach Philippe Aw believes the Protectors deserved the 2-2 draw they earned against Warriors FC on Thursday evening.

Warriors FC had gone ahead through Fazrul Nawaz in the 75th minute, after Shi Jiayi’s 40th-minute goal cancelled out Azhar Sairudin’s opener.

Despite trailing 2-1 with a numerical disadvantage after Fazli Ayob was sent off in the last ten minutes, Home managed to equalise in the final minute of injury time through Abdil Qaiyyim.

Aw felt that the team’s never-give-up attitude was key to them finding the equaliser, and that the draw was a fair result.

“The team spirit from the team was the factor,” Aw said. “Even with a man down, everyone in the team ran more, fought more and you could see there’s fire in our boys today. They never wanted to lose.

“Let’s be honest, we didn’t deserve to lose today. We deserved at least one point, if not all three, and credit to the boys, they never gave up till the last second.”

While many had favoured Warriors for the tie, Aw never once thought that the result was a foregone conclusion.

“We took the early lead, and we had one or two chances to increase the lead but we didn’t captialise on that. After that, we allowed Warriors to settle down and they came back at us,” Aw explained.

“To go 2-1 down of course, it’s disappointing, considering we had the chances to increase the lead. But I’m glad that we came back.

“Football is a funny game. When you are on top, the game can suddenly go the other way and the team scores. When they had the chance to seal the game but they couldn’t put it in, we felt we still had the chance [to come back].”

While the 2-2 draw, coupled with Harimau Muda’s win over Albirex Niigata (S), meant that Home slipped further down the league standings, Aw believes Home can still move up the table.

“I said at the start of the season, this year’s league is going to be very competitive because with the reduction of teams, the good players have all gone on to other clubs,” Aw said.

“So I still firmly believe that we can climb up the table. We have 13 games to go, we still have 39 points to play for and we are never giving up. We will continue grooming the youngsters, with the help of experienced players… our philosophy will never change.

“We hope, by continuing to believe in this, the results will come sooner or later.”

Meanwhile, Warriors coach Alex Weaver said the result felt like a defeat more than anything else.

“It’s very disappointing,” Weaver said. “They were 2-1 down so they were going to throw everything at us and we knew that. That’s why we changed our system a little bit.

“We knew with ten men, or eleven players, they were going to throw everything at us and so we decided to try and contain and we did a good job really, they were really cutting us open.

“That last free-kick, we just didn’t follow the runner into the back post and that’s extremely disappointed. The boys are very disappointed as well. It feels like a loss really.”

The draw meant that Warriors have once again failed to extend their lead at the top of the table, despite title rivals Brunei DPMM and Albirex Niigata (S) both dropping points.

While they are still leading the league table, Weaver knows that the defending champions should have done better.

“Brunei DPMM dropped points, Albirex dropped points, so it’s a little bit crazy at the moment, but it’s even worst for us. All the other teams are going to be feeling the same thing, in terms that they want to be capitalising on that,” Weaver stated.

“It’s a real signal tonight. We should have won that game, we should have closed that game out in the end, but we didn’t. We were excellent in the first half, but we just couldn’t keep the ball well enough in the second half and we invited pressure onto us.

“Home United did well in the second half and they will be pleased with the point, but we’ve given that away really.”

TEAM		MP	W	L	G	+/-	P
S.League
1		Albirex Niigata S	15	8	2	5	7	26
2		Warriors	13	8	1	4	2	25
3		DPMM FC	13	6	5	2	7	23
4		Tampines Rovers	13	6	3	4	6	21
5		Balestier Khalsa	13	6	3	4	5	21
6		Harimau Muda	10	5	1	4	-2	16
7		Home United	14	3	6	5	-1	15
8		Geylang International	14	3	3	8	-6	12
9		Hougang United	14	2	5	7	-10	11
10		Young Lions	11	2	3	6	-8	9

* Standing is refreshing ervery hour