Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com
It was supposed to be a battle between two top powerhouses, but SAFFC could not live up to the expectations the fans had of them as they fell meekly at home to longtime rivals Tampines Rovers on Thursday evening.
The 1-0 scoreline in favour of the Stags was the second they had achieved at Choa Chu Kang in as many years, although they could easily have left the stadium with a hatful of goals to the good.
In the end they made do with Shahdan Sulaiman’s early strike, as the Warriors never looked like imposing themselves at a ground they had once made their impregnable fortress.
Mislav Karoglan’s controversial dismissal early in the second half left SAFFC coach Richard Bok livid, yet it only served to mask his side’s disappointing display in front of the biggest crowd to have gathered at an S.League game this season.
Tampines coach Steven Tan had indicated in his pre-match comments that he was not expecting a huge turnout at Choa Chu Kang on a weekday, yet he must have been surprised to see the main stand fill out well as the hosts recorded an official attendance of 3,008.
Bok meanwhile went for a tactical gamble against the Stags, dropping the out-of-form Taisuke Akiyoshi from his matchday squad, while Erwan Gunawan was handed a midfield berth behind Karoglan and Indra Sahdan Daud.
Akiyoshi’s omission was partly to make room for Daniel Hammond in the starting eleven, holding the centre of a three-man backline as Daniel Bennett and Bah Mamadou took the sides.
If the move was to emulate the Stags’ famed rearguard system and provide strength in a compact setup, though, it backfired in spectacular fashion after just five minutes.
Aleksandar Duric, the man who had scored the winner for Tampines in the corresponding fixture last year, played provider this time, capitalising on an error by holding midfielder Luka Savic to send Shahdan through.
With his three defenders all caught out, Shahril Jantan inexplicably hesitated to close the Tampines No.10 down, and by the time he had recovered from the daze, it was too late as Shahdan slotted the ball calmly beneath him from just inside the penalty area.
The 22-year-old’s composure would undoubtedly have been duly noted by Singapore national coach Radojko Avramovic, who was seen assessing several potential names to draft into the Lions squad for any training plans he had for June.
Shahdan could have even bagged a second before the first 15 minutes were up, as he galloped into the box after Erwan’s charge into Tampines territory was broken up by Akihiro Nakamura.
His initial shot was fortuitously slowed down by Shahril’s outstretched hand, but he reacted fastest to reach the ball, only to be forced wide by Mamadou and then challenged by a fast-retreating Hammond.
Ivan Jerkovic then had to storm back to his box and blast clear the intended pass to Duric, but the fact that the SAFFC defence was being cut up so easily must have left Bok unnerved.
Throw in Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin’s scorcher of an attempt from 25 yards that narrowly missed the post, and it was clear Tampines were showing strong signs of intent to their title rivals.
In contrast, SAFFC had to depend on the odd free kick to harbour any hope of scoring, while Karoglan had a weak right-footed effort easily gathered by Hassan Sunny.
In fact, the scariest moment of the first half – as far as the custodian was concerned – was a collision with his own teammate Benoit Croissant on 35 minutes, when he accidentally hit the Frenchman in the chest with his knee while both were defending a free kick.
Play had to be stopped for three minutes as Croissant lay motionless on the floor, and it was only when a doctor ascertained that the centreback was scared but not at all hurt that everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Croissant was a key presence for the Stags throughout the evening, keeping a tight watch on all of SAFFC’s attacking threats while being careful not to concede any penalties, as Indra and second-half substitute Fazrul Nawaz found out to their cost.
It meant that his defensive partners Park Yo Seb and Seiji Kaneko could afford not to do too much, although both also had useful contributions at the back, particularly in the second half.
With Nakamura, Ismadi Mukhtar and Imran Sahib also doing well in midfield for Tampines, SAFFC found it nearly impossible to put a coherent game together, prompting Bok to go for a double substitution at half-time.
Mustaqim Manzur and Rhysh Roshan Rai, having recently recovered from minor injuries, were thrown into the fray, yet the former had a deflating introduction as he was booked after just seven minutes for a foul on Ismadi.
Unbeknownst to everyone, including the Tampines wingback, things were about to get more dramatic just five minutes later.
Karoglan was the aggressor this time, although accounts from various parties afterwards suggested he had merely mistimed a sliding challenge on Ismadi as the latter cleared the ball away, thus nicking his standing leg in the Achilles tendon.
Referee Abdul Malik Bashir had initially wanted to give the Croat a yellow card as he approached the scene of the incident, but then appeared to change his mind and went for the straight red, much to the surprise of Karoglan and his coach.
Down to ten men, all eyes were on the bench as everyone in the stands wondered how long it would take before Fazrul would be fielded in an attempt to salvage a point, but when he finally turned up there were only slightly over 20 minutes left to play.
In the intervening period Latiff had spurned a golden chance to double the visitors’ advantage when he tried to unselfishly pass wide to Duric instead, and the big striker also shot shy of the near post following a good one-two in a separate opportunity.
Shahdan then fluffed a free kick with nine minutes left on the clock, although he had done considerably better than Shaiful Esah, who had his bearings well off only a couple of minutes earlier from a similar spot at the other end for SAFFC.
Latiff forced ex-teammate Shahril into a fine save in injury time, as the Stags coasted home to their fourth consecutive league victory this season and looked every bit good enough to match league leaders Home United stride for stride.
For the Warriors, though, with a number of tough games on the horizon, this weary showing was something they would rather forget.
Tan admits Stags could have scored more
Tampines Rovers coach Steven Tan was pleased to pocket all three points after defeating SAFFC at Choa Chu Kang Stadium – although he admitted a return of one goal was not the most ideal.
The Stags scored after just five minutes through playmaker Shahdan Sulaiman, but then missed an abundance of chances in both halves to feed their hosts’ hopes of a comeback.
In the end, the Warriors failed to pose a coherent attacking threat, allowing Tan the pleasure of seeing his side’s unbeaten start to the season continue for yet another week.
The former Singapore forward was nonetheless keen to explore possible reasons for the slender margin of the victory.
“There should have been more goals, yes, but maybe it was the fatigue,” he told sleague.com.
“The players know it themselves, they should have killed the game in the first half, and then we wouldn’t have to play so hard. Having said that, I think SAFFC also worked hard and put some pressure on us.
“This was another heavy field, we’ve had a few of them, and it’s not like we didn’t want to play. But it’s all about composure and decision-making in the final third.
“At the end of the day, though, the three points are the most important at the start of the season. And it’s good that we have no injuries or suspensions to think about going into our next game.”
The fact that Shahdan was the only goalscorer on the evening meant Aleksandar Duric could not maintain his run of scoring in every match since the Charity Shield victory over Etoile.
Tan was however no less pleased by the work Duric had done in setting his young teammate up with his through pass.
“Well, he had an assist, and sometimes having an assist is better than scoring a goal!” he noted.
“It’s still considered a big contribution, so it’s like he scored seven goals and a half. He’s played well, and I thought Shahdan also played well, running from deep a lot like we did in training.
“We knew what Shahdan’s strength was, we knew he can keep the ball well. It’s very important in a game like this, because we need to keep the ball among us against a team like SAFFC.
“With all the attention on Aliff (Shafaein), Aleks and (Ahmad) Latiff (Khamarudin), nobody tracked him, and it happened twice! But I think he’ll be more noticed soon, especially in our next game against his old team Home (United).”
SAFFC coach Richard Bok was left deeply unhappy with the red card to Mislav Karoglan early in the second half, which left his already-disjointed team without a convincing attacking outlet for over 30 minutes.
He admitted, however, that his team did not have the most convincing of performances even as he tried to accentuate the positives.
“We were poor in the first half, one mistake cost us the goal, one simple error,” he conceded.
“But I thought the red card for Mislav was very harsh, a real disappointment. It’s just a tackle from the back, and I don’t think it warrants a red card, maybe a yellow at most.
“But then, when we were down to ten men, I thought we showed more urgency and moved faster. Before that, we were slow in our transitions from defence to attack, and we gave away possession a lot, especially in the first half.
“We didn’t create much for most of the game until we only had ten men, but the players were willing to fight for each other. Then again, Tampines are always going to be tough to play against, even if we had eleven men all the way.
“A great team is not afraid of failure, they are defined by how they get up from failures,” added Bok, who was aware his Warriors now face a huge test of confidence against Gombak United.
“The most important thing is that the enthusiasm and fighting spirit must be there even if we lose a game. Now we’ve got to pick ourselves up and look forward to Monday’s game.”
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