Arief Aditya
info@sleague.com
There was a time when matches between Home United and Tanjong Pagar United were dramatic battles between two giants in the league, full of twists and turns that had fans on the edge of their seats.
Things might have taken a significant turn since that era, but in thumping an inexperienced Tanjong Pagar side 6-0 on Friday night, Home showed the 1,549-strong crowd at Jalan Besar Stadium just why they have been tipped as title favourites this season.
The gulf in standards between the two sides was evident enough, even though Singapore international Qiu Li had started on the bench for the Protectors and Korean star Kim Dae Eui was out of action altogether.
Without the duo, Home still had enough aces in their hand, led by last season’s S.League top scorer Frederic Mendy, who put in a sterling performance that left his coach Lee Lim Saeng smiling all the way home.
From the get-go, Mendy was in attacking mode, and he was involved as early as the sixth minute when he sent a neat backheeled pass to winger Juma’at Jantan.
Cries for a penalty were soon heard when Juma’at fell to the ground under a challenge in the box, but referee Sukhbir Singh was having none of it.
The Protectors hardly needed to rue the call, however, as six minutes later, they had their lead.
Juma’at had played what seemed a harmless free kick from the left, yet the ball somehow eluded every Tanjong Pagar player and found Valery Hiek near the far post, who calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net.
That goal jolted the Jaguars into action, and two minutes later, Takaya Kawanabe took a shot that went wide of the post, leaving Lionel Lewis relieved.
Kawanabe had previously scored against both SAFFC and Tampines Rovers, and completing the hat-trick of goals against Singapore’s ‘Big Three’ might well have been on his mind as he tried to energise the Tanjong Pagar attack.
But there was no doubt which side had the more effective No.10, and Mendy proved to be a constant thorn in the opposing defenders’s sides as he started to stamp his all-round strength.
On 21 minutes, the former Etoile icon played a cross aimed for Juma’at, who saw his header narrowly miss the goal.
By then, though, Home were already cruising at 1-0 up and merely waiting for their second goal to come – and it did with seven minutes to go before half-time.
It was a goal that exploited Mendy’s aerial strength as he headed home off a Firdaus Idros free kick, although the Jaguars made it easier for the lanky man as their markers all went missing.
Such a sight was hardly endearing to their coach Terry Pathmanathan, who readily admitted afterwards that his charges should have done better.
“I personally would feel that this is a big disappointment, a big embarrassment, but then I can’t compare my players’ feelings against mine,” said the man who was Singapore’s defensive lynchpin in his playing days.
To Pathmanathan’s credit, he did not let the two-goal deficit become an excuse to pile on the defenders, and instead made two attack-minded substitutions as Israel Tan and Sudhershen Hariram were replaced by forward Patrick Paran and defensive midfielder Benedict Low.
That allowed Kim Jong Oh and Shamil Sharif to push up from their initial withdrawn positions, even as Lee decided to field Qiu in place of Juma’at, who had taken a number of knocks in the first half.
Tanjong Pagar started the second half brightly as the substitutions initially looked like working, with a number of good moves and intelligent runs giving signs of promise.
But their inexperience showed when they reached the final third, leaving Lewis with little to do as Hiek and Kenji Arai forged a strong defensive wall to protect their goalkeeper.
Home meanwhile did not look like raising their game just yet, and Lee responded by taking the defensive-minded Isa Halim off for Asraf Abdul Rashid on 53 minutes.
That change proved pivotal to proceedings for the rest of the evening, starting with Asraf’s goal just ten minutes after coming on.
It was a good piece of opportunism from the former Woodlands Wellington man, as he pounced on Ridhuan Barudin’s weak punch off another Home attack to slot the ball into an unguarded net.
Things went from bad to worse for the Jaguars six minutes later, when Hiek got his second goal of the night after Mendy’s headed effort off a Qiu corner rebounded off the crossbar to the well-placed Cameroonian.
There was very nearly a chance for a goal at the other end on 78 minutes, when Lewis and Arai were involved in a rare defensive mix-up as they were dealing with a high ball that dipped just before the edge of the penalty area.
But the confusion seemed to get to the Tanjong Pagar strikers, with one joining in the tangle instead of getting a decisive touch that would have sent the ball home.
Again Pathmanathan pointed to the huge gap in standards and training between the two teams as he reviewed that miss.
“If the same thing had happened at the other end, Home United would have scored,” lamented the 55-year-old.
“But look at my player, where was he? He was not aware of what was happening, he was just turning around and trying to kick the ball as if by chance. If you are a top-calibre player, you would have put the ball through into an empty goal.”
Surviving that scare prompted Home to tighten up considerably, and they made sure to inflict more damage on their opponents with two more goals in stoppage time.
First, Asraf capped off a brilliant performance by providing a ball for Mendy to head in his second goal of the game. Then Qiu delivered a stunning free kick from long range that snuck into goal off an upright.
6-0 it was, then, and another harsh, demoralising lesson burned into the young Jaguars’ minds.
Pathmanathan was realistic enough to see that such experiences would continue for some time yet, noting that some players might have frozen in front of the big stage and bright lights of an S.League game.
“Suddenly they have been thrown onto the pitch, and sometimes I thought they started off with too much fear,” he noted.
“Sometimes they dare not even pass or hold the ball, but it will take some time before they get more confident. At the end of the day, I won’t blame the players, I will keep doing mostly positive things in training.
“If the players believe that having a psychologist tomorrow will help the team to win right away, I am more than willing to do it. But if you cannot string decent passes yet, it’s strictly about the training you have, and one look is all it takes to tell the guys have missed out on ten years of good training and football.
“It is very difficult, it certainly takes time to bring these players to a different level, and I am glad that the boys are training hard to improve themselves. My job is unbelievable, but it is a challenge I took up, and I will be with the team and the players all the way.”
Home were meanwhile one happy camp after this match, not least their soft-spoken coach Lee, who saw his attack-minded tactics pay off in style.
“Credit to the players for the result, and I am so happy that everyone is scoring!” said the 39-year-old.
“If Mendy alone was scoring, then I will not be so happy. But Valery got two, Mendy got two, and Asraf and Qiu Li scored great goals today.
“The team is performing, but I don’t think this is our best. We should try to keep showing good football, and this is a long season, so frankly, I want to be able to smile like today at the end of the season.”
Protectors general manager S. Mahalingam was also heartened by the growing band of Home supporters at the club’s games.
“The fans are coming back, which means that we are playing it right!” joked the big man.
“We know Singaporeans, they like to support winning teams. So if we keep winning, more of them will keep coming to our games!”
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