Noor Farhan
info@sleague.com
For 80 minutes on Sunday evening, Tampines Rovers seemed to find no way past Izwan Mahbud as the goalkeeper stood tall between the sticks in a bid to earn the Courts Young Lions a clean sheet.
Lady Luck eventually smiled on the hosts at Tampines Stadium, though, as a scrappy goal by Stags hitman Aleksandar Duric was enough to break the deadlock in their 1-0 victory over their hardy opponents.
The scoreline could have been far more clear-cut if not for the sheer talent of Young Lions custodian Izwan, who was outstanding throughout.
But he, like so many goalkeepers before him, was beaten in the end, and with the three points securely in their grasp, Tampines now sit atop the S.League table once again with 23 points after nine games played, while the Young Lions find themselves still mired in the bottom three.
The home side were quick to settle in midfield, with Duric being the first to test the Young Lions goalkeeper in the fifth minute after being sent clean through, only to see his charge halted by an onrushing Izwan.
The Young Lions defence got overrun way too easily throughout the game, though, first by Shahdan Sulaiman’s excellent work down the right which saw him thread a good pass past four static defenders, followed by snap shots by Duric and Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin on 15 and 19 minutes respectively.
If not for the fine reflexes of an alert Izwan, who had a night his opposite number Hassan Sunny could be proud of, the boys in white and dark blue could have found themselves behind far earlier than they actually did.
They again had their goalkeeper to thank on 27 minutes when Tampines were boring holes through the Young Lions rearguard at will, with potshots by Aliff Shafaein, Duric and Latiff in quick succession all repelled.
Towards the end of the first half, the Young Lions finally found their footing in central midfield courtesy of some good play by Hariss Harun and Izzdin Shafiq.
A pass stemming from some fine work between the two found Faritz Abdul Hameed, whose cross-shot was diverted by the outstretched arms of Hassan to keep the half-time score at 0-0.
Continuing their positive play into the second half, the Young Lions were almost rewarded when Izzdin saw himself free on 50 minutes, but his volley agonisingly grazed the crossbar.
Soon enough, though, the action switched over to the other end as Tampines resumed their bombardment on the visitors’ goal.
Izwan again had to be called into action to tip over a speculative shot by Shahdan, after some slick passing in a counterattacking move.
He was almost beaten on 65 minutes after being caught outside his goal with Duric bearing down on him, but having rounded the goalkeeper, the Tampines captain saw his tame shot cleared off the line by Afiq Yunos, who had managed to retreat and position himself in time.
There was not much Izwan could do with ten minutes remaining, however, when the Singapore international finally ended the stalemate in near-comical circumstances.
It all started from an error from the back of the Tampines defence, when Park Yo Seb’s misdirected clearance fortuitously found teammate Ismadi Mukhtar down the left channel. A quick charge down the left by substitute Jamil Ali then left several Young Lions defenders trailing in his wake, before he fed a return ball back to Ismadi.
The 27-year-old then laid the ball to Duric, who held off his marker and saw his initial shot saved by Izwan, but this time he followed through to bundle the ball over the line.
It was a cruel way to end Izwan’s fine string of saves, but he had one last piece of action in injury time to avert a heavier defeat.
Right at the death, the 20-year-old tipped Ismadi’s header over the bar to cap a fine performance for his side despite the defeat.
Young Lions coach Robin Chitrakar certainly deemed it right to highlight the positives for his charges even as he looked back at the all-deciding goal.
“It was quite a scrappy one for us to concede, but a goal is a goal, and not taking anything away from Duric, he still managed to put the ball in the net,” he told sleague.com.
“We had a lot of players at the back still (in that situation), being able to recover. But I thought the boys did their best to come back and try to defend.
“Let’s not take anything away from the boys, as they did very well in terms of overall performance.”
Doing well was not enough to save at least a point, though, and Tampines coach Steven Tan highlighted the good fortune his players had in clinching full points.
“In football we need a bit of luck (to gain results),” he noted.
“If not for luck we could have seen more clearances off the line and even more saves in the game. Still, it was important that we get the three points.”
The match was also a tactical victory for Tan, whose team played a slow game in the first half but managed to produce the goods in the end.
“In the first half, we were not actually playing a relaxed game,” remarked the 40-year-old.
“We had to make sure that we did not play to the Young Lions’ pace, as we knew they would run a lot throughout.
“If we had played to their pace, we would have tired ourselves out. We knew that at the rate they were going, they would have been fatigued by the second half.
“In the end, their players went down with cramp, but we finished the game without any such problems. If our players went down with cramp, it means I am not doing my job preparing them fitness-wise, and I would have made them run a few more rounds on Monday to make up for that!”
Tan also touched on his decision to take an off-colour Aliff off early in the second half, as well as omitting Seiji Kaneko, who had a bruise above his knee, from the matchday squad.
“Aliff had a rib injury in Hanoi, it was affecting his performances slightly in this game, so we had to replace him midway through,” he reported.
“As for Seiji, with his bruise I thought it was more important to rest him today and have him free to play more games later. We’re targeting our AFC Cup game as the time to bring him back.”
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