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They were outshouted in the stands, and they were outworked on the field.
The comprehensiveness of the Courts Young Lions’ defeat on both sides of the touchline at Jalan Besar was appropriately reflected, then, by the 0-2 scoreline shown at the end of the 90 minutes.
Goals from Ruhaizad Ismail and Park Kang Jin gave Gombak United the three points they needed to ease themselves into fifth place, giving their fans good reason to be loud and proud about their team’s upswing in fortunes.
For Young Lions coach Robin Chitrakar, however, this was another Saturday evening to forget as his ‘Tinkerman’ tactics backfired on him in improbable fashion.
Having recently stressed the importance of producing results to match performances he had viewed in positive terms, the 34-year-old retained just four of the eleven players that had started against Home United in midweek.
Fazli Ayob, Shahfiq Ghani and Faritz Abdul Hameed were among those relegated to the bench as Firman Hanif and Ignatius Ang were handed their first starts, while goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud, who had played exceptionally well recently against Tampines Rovers, was dropped altogether.
If Izwan’s replacement Jasper Chan was hoping his defence would hold up against Gombak, the thought was shot to pieces after just three minutes.
A botched attempt by leftback Afiq Yunos to clear the ball gave Ruhaizad an opening, and the winger gleefully took it at the first time of asking to give the Bulls the perfect start.
Ruhaizad had missed Gombak’s previous game due to suspension, and he seemed on a mission to make up for lost time as he made an absolute nuisance of himself in the opening minutes.
Behind him, the rest of the men in white were comfortably keeping control, particularly on the flanks where Ismail Yunos and Jeremy Chiang mopped most things up with little fuss.
Up in the gallery, Gombak too were in dominant form, their fans singing in fine voice and hitting their instruments with an abundance of enthusiasm.
So clear was the impression they were leaving in the stands, it was easy to make the mistaken guess this was actually the Bulls’ home game, as the Young Lions fans, underrepresented in the sparse crowd of 646, could not find it in them to raise their volume.
At least on the field it was eleven against eleven, although a few players were having noticeably quiet games for the home side.
Syafiq Zainal, deployed in an unfamiliar defensive midfield role alongside skipper Hariss Harun, was one such, while Ang was hardly noticed on his full debut as most of the attacks appeared to go down the right side, where Nazrul Ahmad Nazari repeatedly tried to break through in vain.
The Young Lions did have a rare glimpse at a chance to equalise on 36 minutes, when Khalili D’Cruz was at the centre of a moment’s lapse from the Gombak backline and pulled a shot that at least forced Zakariah Nerani to fumble the ball for a second.
But with striker Haniff Ja’ffar Sadique picking up an ankle injury, Chitrakar decided to make a couple of changes during the interval as Izzdin Shafiq and Shakir Hamzah were introduced.
Surprisingly, Hariss joined Haniff in making way for the pair of substitutes, and Afiq was also withdrawn in favour of Irwan Shah before the hour was up.
The shuffle changed the spine of the team as Firman, Syafiq and D’Cruz all moved one step up the 4-2-3-1 formation ladder, but that did little to change the balance of the game as Gombak maintained a level of industry that was just enough to close off the opposition.
The visitors could even have created a few more chances had Hamqaamal Shah been more incisive down the left flank, but as it was he already did enough to trouble Eugene Luo, who was not looking particularly comfortable in his defensive role for the Young Lions.
One clear example came twelve minutes from the end as Hamqaamal trotted into an attacking position with the ball at his feet the whole time, only for the shot to go across the face of goal.
The 24-year-old then failed to make the most of a through ball sent his way seconds later, but the way things were going, Gombak looked good value for a second goal.
That duly arrived on 83 minutes, and again it was a moment of defensive failure that gifted the opportunity.
A throw-in routine on the right ended up sending the ball towards Park 25 yards out, and with no red shirt closing in, the Korean saw no harm in swinging a left-footed shot after taking a touch.
Chan appeared to initially react, but then froze on the spot and could only watch in horror as the ball glided sweetly into the net, effectively sealing all three points for the Bulls.
The visitors could have had even more goals had Hamqaamal cut the ball back smartly to late substitute Fareez Farhan in the penalty area on 88 minutes instead of getting greedy and going for a glorious cross-shot, but by then the Young Lions had all but given up.
And if their fans had expressed any pride in their work despite the defeat, it would have been difficult to hear it, so emphatically joyous was the cheering the Gombak fans offered even as they made their way out.
Stewart pleased Bulls resume normal service
Gombak United coach Darren Stewart was satisfied to see his charges bring the industry back into their game as they overcame the Courts Young Lions 2-0.
The Australian had cut a disappointed figure in his team’s last match, calling the showing against Tanjong Pagar United “our worst performance of the year” despite garnering a 3-0 victory then.
There were no such complaints from him this time, however, as the Bulls showed the intensity and focus to silence their hosts at Jalan Besar.
“We were much better today, back to our normal selves,” he told sleague.com.
“We’re not going to play perfect football, but the high work rate and intensity had all come back, which is really pleasing. That is what we build our game around, and we thought that dropped off in our last game.
“I can’t praise the boys enough for getting it back, and I’m mostly pleased with how we lifted ourselves and played much better today. I think the boys have all been above themselves, and looking at the season, we’re all happy with where we are at this moment.
“Maybe the other team got unlucky with the first goal, even though it was a great finish, and they gave us a hard game until maybe the last ten minutes. But we’ll always be tough to beat.”
Young Lions coach Robin Chitrakar meanwhile mounted a zealous defence of his decision to aggressively rotate his squad against Gombak, having made seven changes to his starting eleven.
First-year players Ignatius Ang and Firman Hanif were among the second-stringers picked to start as several mainstays were dropped, while skipper Hariss Harun and vice-captain Afiq Yunos were withdrawn less than an hour into the game.
Chitrakar was adamant that these changes were necessary for the rookies’ development.
“We played lots of back-to-back games, and there’s a big game against SAFFC coming up,” said the 34-year-old.
“It’s not like we just go out there and field whoever we want to; obviously we have plans and we’ve worked at this in training. This is a very good place for people to get a chance to play and get experience and exposure.
“This game was a good opportunity to get some of them started in terms of playing. These boys badly want a game, and if anything, this game shows that they need more, many more games.
“These are 19-year-old boys we are talking about, and I don’t think they will get the same opportunities in many of the clubs out there. Hopefully they will gain from this experience, and they will be much more ready when they are called upon again.”
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