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Woodlands Wellington might have scored for the second successive match following their first goal of the season last Thursday, but they still could not prevent falling to another defeat, this time to title-chasers Tampines Rovers.
Sahairi Ramri scored the luckiest goal of his career, but the fullback had to thank the Stags’ stand-in goalkeeper Alimin Mohamed for the opener just past the half-hour mark.
The reserve custodian, playing in place of the rested Hassan Sunny, failed to firmly hold a tame cross from the Woodlands No.5 and ended up slipping it into his own net.
The Rams managed to cling on to the lead all the way into the break, but not much later.
A quickfire double from Seiji Kaneko and Aliff Shafaein three minutes apart, and just minutes after the restart, placed Tampines firmly in control of the game.
Captain Aleksandar Duric secured a third three minutes before the end, but he was also guilty of missing several gilt-edged chances along with Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin and Shahdan Sulaiman to put the tie firmly beyond reach of the cellar dwellers.
Ali Imran Lomri, who had an impressive game for the hosts, also struck the crossbar from a dipping direct free kick with the tie at 1-2. Shahri Musa had also struck the framework after just four minutes of play with his header from a Graham Tatters cross.
Had any of those opportunities been converted into goals, Woodlands might have been looking at a shock victory that would have lifted them off the foot of the table.
R. Balasubramaniam though refused to blame bad luck for the outcome, and instead readily admitted the shambolic state of his team.
“It was our worst game (of the season),” lamented the Rams coach.
“We tried to focus on attack and then forgot about defending. I think we have to go back to the drawing board.”
Woodlands did put up a sterner showing than in previous matches, buoyed by their resilient performance against Etoile on Thursday.
A stubborn first-half showing by the home side limited the chances the Stags had, but whatever Steven Tan said at the break to his charges worked the magic.
Kaneko pounced on a rebound to level the tie on 48 minutes after Ang Bang Heng had done well to block a powerful header from a corner kick. Then, Aliff drilled a first-time volley under the custodian after a quick counter down the right by Imran Sahib.
As for Duric, his goal on 87 minutes was the most academic of finishes, as he coolly slotted under the onrushing Ang after breaking the offside trap.
But the veteran forward wasted three other chances that left the player frustrated. His first came after forcing the ball past Ang, only to find himself in a tight angle, but instead of finding an open team-mate Duric went for glory and blazed his effort well over the goal.
His two other efforts came in added time, and on both occasions the national forward failed to beat Ang in a one-on-one situation.
Tampines coach Tan, however, exuded calmness despite his team’s profligacy and the manner in which they had conceded the opener.
“I don’t want to go hard on him and blame him for the goal, it’s going to affect his confidence,” he said in his usual cool demeanour when asked on custodian Alimin’s error.
“Last ten minutes, we should have scored (a few), but we came here and the condition of the field is not so good.
“Hopefully when they are playing under pressure and on a better pitch, we can do better, ” he said in reference to the big showdown against last year's champions Etoile this Friday at Jalan Besar Stadium.
“But it’s just another game, and I just want my players to recover as soon as possible.”
Having played just three days earlier, Tan also lamented the haphazard schedule which had allowed their next opponents, who had no game arranged since their trip to Woodlands last Thursday, a far longer rest period.
But despite hinting at a possible change in his starting eleven prior to the match to allow key players a rest ahead of Friday’s game, the usual suspects were still fielded.
Moves to replace some of them came late too, Aliff being the first to trot off on 68 minutes, while Latiff made his exit with only 13 minutes to go and Duric played the full length of the game.
But Tan did let on that first-choice custodian Hassan should be expected to return to action for their fateful match against Etoile, before the team’s AFC Cup assignment in Hanoi early next week.
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