DPMM FC is going into tonight's Singapore League(S-League) clash against Sengkang Punggol knowing that a win for them will send them reach the summit of the league for the first time this season.
Third in the league after three wins and two draws, Vjeran Simunic's men are undefeated in their debut S-League season and will be looking to maintain that record when their match against 10th place Sengkang kicks off at 8.15pm.
But defending champions and second-placed Singapore Armed Forces(SAF)taking on Albirex tomorrow and Woodlands Wellington facing leaders Gombak United in the other match of the day, at least a win tonight for DPMM a little bit will pressurize the other teams in their matches.
"We are in a dream situation going into the game and we must be proud of the result we have achieved thus so far," declared Simunic yesterday.
"Last year their coach(Jorg Steinbrunner) was in charge of Woodlands and they only lost once, so we are expecting a very tough game."
"They will be here to dethrone us of our undefeated status, but if we win , we can celebrate being first in the league - even if just for a day."
"We are not afraid if anybody... But at the same time we respect everybody," added the Croatian.
With two of Singapore's most well-known players on their side,Sengkang have every reason to be confident of beating DPMM tonight.
Ex-Singaporean national team captain and defender Aide Iskandar and current Singapore national team captain strikerIndra Shahdan Daud - are the two names sure to start.
Imports like Canadian striker Anthony Bahadur and compatriot in defence Murphy Wiredu also add stregth to the team, with Guinean midfielder Abdoulaye Diallo and Japanese defender/ midfielder Hiroyuki Yamamoto also expected to deliver.
Despite not scoring this season, Simunic is not worried about the performance of striker Shahrazen Said, the Malaysian Super League joint top-scorer two seasons ago.
"I do not care that he has not scored yet, he is one of our best players and in my opinion it is not a must for strikers to score," said Simunic."We play with teamwork and Shahrazen always does an excellent job keeping the defenders busy and he also gets a lot of corners.After defender Rene Komar, I think he is our best player in the air."
The Croatian also praised South Korean striker Oh Ddog Yi, who scored his first goal of the seasonduring the team's 1-0 win against Balestier Khalsa last week.
Though he called it a "good performance", Simunic said that Oh and Algerian striker Abd Hamid Berguiga still has to adapt to the team - especially the latter, who can speak neither English nor Malay.
The team's top-scorer at the moment, Abu Bakar Mahari, will be on the bench again but the fans are hoping the Simunic will substitute the Tutong-native into the game in the second half.
He has been an effective substitute, coming off the bench twice to score the goals against the Young Lions on Feb 27 and the winning goal against Super Reds on March 4.
"We won two games with goals coming late in the match, so for me it is very important who finishes the game, not who starts," explained Simunic.
Simunic said DPMM will use its 10-day break after tonight's match to practice more.
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