Paul Green
info@sleague.com
The misery continued for Tanjong Pagar United at Clementi Stadium on Monday night when Hougang United made off with a convincing 5-0 win in the Great Eastern-YEO’s S.League match held at the western venue.
Having conceded a goal after only 15 minutes to one of their own former players in Ratna Suffian, the Jaguars did what they could to limit any further damage before half-time, only to succumb to goals from Mohd Noor Ali either side of the break.
After that, at 0-3, there was no way back for the home side.
Only rarely did Tanjong Pagar look like troubling Hougang custodian Ridzuan Fatah Hassan, and then only with long-range speculative efforts that the keeper did well to save when almost caught off his line.
There was another snap-shot that rattled the post, late on but those efforts had come out of the blue.
Two more goals from the visitors made it a sorry night for the Jaguars, who lost skipper Kim Seong Kyu at half-time due to the Korean feeling unwell in the dressing room.
Tanjong Pagar coach Terry Pathmanathan made another change at half-time, replacing Abdul Rahman Haneefa with Patrick Paran, having substituted Kim with Delwinder Singh.
But there was little for the home fans to get excited about in the game, even when Hougang relaxed a little towards the end.
The opening goal from Ratna, almost a replica of the one he had scored a week earlier against Albirex Niigata (Singapore) at Hougang Stadium, came after a corner from the right was swung to the far post by Duncan David Elias.
Goalkeeper Ridhuan Barudin flapped at the ball, getting nowhere near it, and Ratna did the rest as the ball hung invitingly in the air.
But the Jaguars custodian did have to make one or two saves, even if a few blunders were spotted from him as well.
After Jordan Webb had played Brazilian Diego Gama de Oliveira into space, the low shot that was produced was parried well by the goalkeeper to deny his old side a second goal after only 17 minutes.
Tanjong Pagar tested Ridzuan not long afterwards when Gary Loo hit a low shot that was pushed around the post.
It was one of the very few chances the home team were granted.
Oliveira, who played his first full game since returning from injury, might have opened his account on 26 minutes after a sharp turn and shot from just inside the box, but the ball flew narrowly wide.
Another chance for the home team came two minutes later when Hyun Jong Woon played Takaya Kawanabe into a good position, only for the Japanese to skim the crossbar from 12 yards out.
Jaguars midfielders Kim Jong Oh and Kawanabe combined well on 36 minutes before Sudhershen Hariram joined in on the move, but the wide man’s shot was not good enough to beat the Hougang goalkeeper.
Just when it looked as if Tanjong Pagar could go to the sheds to lick their wounds and give some thought to preparing to turn around the one-goal deficit, Hougang struck again on the break.
Webb sped past his man down the left and, once inside the area, laid on a pass for veteran Noor Ali, who gleefully swept the ball home to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
The 35-year-old, revelling in the space being afforded him by the Tanjong Pagar defence, was able to volley home Oliveira’s cross from the left on 47 minutes to make the task nigh-on impossible for the locals at 0-3.
The Cheetahs made it four on 55 after a lovely flowing move involving Webb and Mamadou Diallo, which saw the former’s nice ball to the near post finished superbly by Oliveira with a skilful flick with the outside of his foot.
Tanjong Pagar tried valiantly to clamber their way back after that. A long-range lob from Loo, who had spotted the keeper patrolling well in front of his goal 57 minutes in, showed initiative, but then Ridzuan was able to recover and make the save.
Azlan Alipah also had a similar effort that the Hougang custodian was able to brilliantly tip over the bar, really an opportunity that had followed a slight drop in intensity by Hougang.
When that drop was first noticed, it allowed Sudhershen to get to the by-line and cross well, only to see no Tanjong Pagar head getting anywhere near the ball that had been served up on a platter.
Six minutes from time, Webb had a shot superbly tipped over the bar by Ridhuan, but the resulting corner only spelt further damage for the struggling side.
After the play had seen the ball partially cleared, the ball came back in from the opposite side and hung menacingly in the air. Diallo managed to beat everyone to the ball, sending a looping header over the goalkeeper to make it 5-0.
Hougang coach Aide Iskandar was very pleased with the win.
“We eased off a little near the end, but there were many pleasing things in the game, such as Noor Ali scoring two, Diego scoring a good goal and lasting the whole game, as well as Diallo and Ratna getting on the scoresheet.”
But the pockmarked pitch was not conducive to good football, so it was surprising that there was so much action to entertain the crowd of 836.
“The pitch was very heavy and uneven, which made it difficult to play on,” said Aide.
“Duncan and Shariff (Abdul Samat), especially, had trouble with the pitch.”
Aide also mentioned that, apart from two clean sheets in a row, with two different goalkeepers engaged, his team had now collected five clean ones already this season.
As for Tanjong Pagar, their coach Pathmanathan cut a dejected figure after the match.
Bewailing his players’ lack of control, even allowing for the poor surface, he felt his players fell well short of the mark again, after occasionally looking to be showing improvement in some recent games.
“I only have these players available, so I have to ask them to show me what they can do if they want to stay at the club for any length of time,” he said.
“They need to keep working and maybe they can improve; but today was a day when nothing went right for us.”
The loss leaves the Jaguars firmly at the bottom of the ladder, and the seasoned coach will be hoping meeting the same opponents a second time will show what the players have learned, after being thrown in at the deep end at the start of the season in one big rush.
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