Bhaskaran Kunju
info@sleague.com
An equaliser let in through a goalkeeping error and a late own goal from Paul Cunningham sent Balestier Khalsa crashing to an undeserved 1-2 loss to Gombak United at Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday night.
Cunningham, who looked slightly shaky for most parts of the second half, had nearly been punished by Park Kang Jin minutes before the decisive goal for taking his eye off the ball when under little pressure, but had escaped with just a caution.
However, with just three minutes of regulation time left, the Kiwi dove on to a tricky Ruhaizad Ismail free kick and tried to head clear, only to see the ball skim off his head and over Joey Sim into the far corner to hand victory to the Bulls.
Remarkably, the Tigers captain had an opportunity to atone for his error and claim a point for his side deep into added time, when he got onto the end of a long ball that trickled past the Gombak backline.
But the defender, who had shifted up front immediately after his team had fallen behind, exhibited a typical defender’s finish by firing his shot straight at Zakariah Nerani.
It was an eventful and balanced match despite the low score, as Vitor Borges also managed to strike the crossbar in the second half with the tie still on level terms.
Balestier coach Salim Moin was understandably a disappointed man at the final whistle.
“It was a 50-50 game, we played the same approach as against SAFFC so you can see when we countered we had numbers, which resulted in the first goal,” explained the former Gombak man.
“The first goal, I should say my players slipped. When I say slipped I mean they had a lapse in concentration. I think if they followed instructions and had been well-organised they should not have been able to let in the equaliser.
“I should say the goals scored by Gombak were all (the result of) ball-watching.
“I’m not going to pick (individual) players (to blame). If someone had closed Obadin (Aikhena) he would not have been able to take the shot on goal, and it would not have led to the equaliser. Other than that, I should say I have no complaints about the performance.”
The equaliser in question had come about after Sim had made a hash of a corner kick and ended up flat on the ground with his defenders scrambling to defend an empty goal.
Eventually a deflected Aikhena shot was poked in from close range by Chang Jo Yoon with at least three Balestier defenders staking out the goal-line.
The goal, having come just a minute before the break, was also credited by the Balestier coach as being decisive in ruining his team’s momentum.
But up until K. Vikraman’s goal on 38 minutes, both teams had looked unlikely to ever break the deadlock, with only shots from long range that went crashing over the crossbars.
Vikraman’s goal itself, though, was in part a result of his own industry. Having won the ball in the middle of the park, the midfielder rushed into the penalty box before calmly flicking over Zakariah for the opener.
Unfortunately for Balestier, it was all downhill from there, as noted by their coach.
Aikhena nearly punished the Tigers five minutes after the restart with a deft back-heel that was turned away by Sim from close range.
Then five minutes later Borges, had one of his team’s only two clear shots on goal for the second half after a neat interplay with Vikraman, but the Brazilian’s header from an unmarked position came off the framework, having beaten the custodian.
Ruhaizad, whose free kick towards the end led to the winning goal, was also a threat before that, having come on for Hamqaamal Shah on 73 minutes.
The midfielder nearly laid off a perfect ball for Zulkiffli Hassim, only to see the substitute fire over when faced with an empty goal.
Balestier’s misfortune was, however, a little worse for the night than Gombak’s, something that Bulls coach Darren Stewart was ready to accept.
“Yes we were lucky, probably a draw was a better result,” said the Australian modestly.
“We didn’t play brilliant football, especially in the first half. We were sluggish, but we came in a little bit stronger in the second half. I’m just pleased with the work that we’ve put in.”
But Stewart admitted to not having seen the incident that had led to the free kick which produced the winning goal, something Salim had reluctantly accepted despite the possibility that it had come about from a dive.
“Referee’s decision, luck, it all evened out,” he mused.
“But without working hard and showing character to come back, we wouldn’t have got that luck. The character was enormous,” concluded Stewart, clearly beaming with the knowledge that three crucial points had been won.
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