Goalkeepers see red as Dolphins crumble

Elwyn Lee
info@sleague.com

Tampines Rovers came out 2-0 winners against Sengkang Punggol at the Tampines Stadium Monday (9 Mar) in a match where the visitors had both their goalkeepers sent-off.

At least one coach on the night was seething over the refereeing decisions on the day – and Dolphins Coach Jorg Steinebrunner was once again unimpressed by the level of refereeing which the man-in-the-middle was delivering.

Understandably, the German was aghast as to how ‘keeper Boon could have been given marching orders when the challenge looked tentative, coupled with Boon not being the final hurdle as he sought to negate the onrushing Noh Alam Shah of Tampines.

In the end, referee Hussein Zaid was not the most popular man on the field as a litany of cat-calls and boos from the Dolphins fans peppered him during the proceedings and pursued him even after his exit.

Hosts Tampines were dominant for most of the game as – even prior to referee Zaid flashing red to custodian Joey Sim in the 46th minute – the Stags were strong at the back while pushing forward from the middle onto launching some very impressive attacks up-front – attacks that pegged the Dolphins into defensive mode for long spells of the game.

Still, until the later discrepancy in numbers, 22 year-old Sim, and then 37 year-old Amos Boon were holding fort well enough.

As early as the 5th and 6th minutes, Sim was to deny their adversaries by parrying away a sublime Sutee Suksomkit free-kick, followed by an Akihiro Nakamura corner coming soon after.

Sengkang, at full-force, were even showing the potential to go ahead when at the 17th minute a free-kick was awarded them deep inside the Tampines box for a goalkeeping infringement; Dolphins Murphy Wiredu was played a short pass which the Canadian walloped low toward goal, only to be denied by a rock-wall formed by the Stags.

Three minutes on, Dolphins midfielder Abdoulaye Diallo provided a scorching shot from the left, the Guinean’s shot screeching just over custodian Hassan Sunny’s upright.

It was Tampines’ turn a minute later when in the 21st the Stags showed what their brigade of calibre players were capable. It was a move of master-class that shattered the dead-lock…

The protagonists for the Stags were national players Sutee (Thailand) and Noh (Singapore) who provided a dazzling display of technical passing that bamboozled the opposition’s defence; tearing down the middle, Noh released the ball to Sutee on the right, the Thai duly obliging with a return cross back into the box after running down to the fringes of the corner line before crossing – Noh then striking the pass with enough venom to deny Sim any chance whatsoever (1-0).

Sengkang fought back valiantly and with their dangerous foursome comprising Wiredu, Abdoulaye, Indra Sahdan Daud and Anthony Bahadur, were unfortunate with a string of near misses over the span of the next few minutes, denied as they were by some good defending coupled with the presence of custodian Hassan.

The 21 year-old Bahadur was again a marked-man with the Stags trying to close him down, especially with defenders Zulkarnaen Zainal and Benoit Croissant constantly shadowing him.

Still, the young Canadian was able to muscle his way through and in the 40th minute was at the end of a cross from team mate Murphy, providing a header which he connected with too tamely as Hassan collected easily.

The sending-off for the young Joey (Sim) followed six minutes later -- Noh (Alam Shah) was free down the middle with only Sim to beat. Sim, gregarious and determined, upended the hulking form of the forward as he bore down onto goal, just outside the 16-yard box.

Ten-man Sengkang welcomed replacement custodian Amos Boon as the second-half started all too soon; the prodigal son was also in good form as he denied the Stags time and again with his trademark acrobatics, cum good positioning between the sticks.

The Dolphins were accelerating forward themselves and should have done better in the 72nd minute (but) the young Bahadur was profligate – Indra provided an excellent cross from down the right wing that found the Canadian, who wasted the opportunity with a poor header that went downward instead of forward into goal, barely three metres ahead.

With the drizzle on the night getting stronger, the aquanauts (Dolphins) appeared to relish the wet surroundings as they poured forward in search of an equaliser.

Boon kept his side in the game when another of his acrobatic dives (74th) denied Stags midfielder Ridhuan Muhamad; finding himself marked at the 6-yard area, Ridhuan turned well to release a low shot but the alert Boon was at hand to push the ball to safety with a quick-reflex dive.

But the marching orders for Boon in the 77th minute likely took the sizzle out of the visitors.

“It was not a straight-red card offence. There were two defenders behind the ‘keeper and so the ‘keeper is not the last line of defence” seethed Dolphins Coach Jorg, once again finding his team disadvantaged by dubious refereeing decisions.

Concurring with Jorg was Dophins Captain Aide Iskandar who verified that he and defender Noh Rahman were behind the Boon when the ‘offence’ was deemed to have been committed.

Come what may, the rigid determination posed by the Dolphins could no longer prevail thereafter; Captain Aide donned the ‘keepers jersey as the awarded penalty was drilled home by Sutee after the second attempt (83rd minute), the wily Sutee cleverly sending Aide the wrong way both times.

With the win, their first in four games, Tampines Rovers (6 points) are back in familiar surroundings at fourth place, the Stags having played a game more than the other 10 contenders.

Sengkang Punggol retain sixth place on four points over their last four matches played.