Old boy Jamil engineers SAFFC shock

Jack Koh 
info@sleague.com  

All the talk this week has been of the “different level” of competition SAFFC have been experiencing in the Asian Champions League, but Woodlands Wellington showed on Sunday night that the Great Eastern-YEO'S S.League still holds pitfalls for the mighty Warriors.

Led by a former SAFFC favourite in coach Nenad Bacina and inspired by another former Warrior in winger Jamil Ali, the Rams came back from two goals down to stun the reigning S.League champions 3-2 at Choa Chu Kang and earn their first victory of the season.

SAFFC were cruising after first half goals from Park Tae Won and John Wilkinson, but the fleet-footed Jamil pulled one back just after the break, Mojtaba Tehranizadeh equalised with twenty minutes to go and who else but Jamil put the nail in the Warriors’ coffin nine minutes after.

“It took a bit of luck for it (the first goal) to happen,” said Bacina. "But that goal gave us the courage and strength to fight on.”

However, amid the lively atmosphere, it was the hosts who began the more confident.

Veteran midfielder Therdsak Chaiman, in particular, was intimidating with his trickery and neat overlapping runs.

He constructed the Warriors’ first attack when he latched onto Aleksander Duric’s nod-off, shimmied one way, and turned the another, before delivering a cross for an unmarked John Wilkinson to chip over the bar.

Before that, Jamil had already served warning of things to come when his long range effort came off the crossbar in the 15th minute. But for the moment, it was SAFFC in the ascendancy.

The wake-up call was answered when Warriors skipper Duric laid off an inch-perfect pass to Mustaqim Manzur, whose cross found Park Tae Won for the easiest of tap-ins in the 20th minute. The Korean, who moved to Choa Chu Kang from the Rams this season, was back to haunt his former club.

An early pattern emerged with Therdsak, Duric and Park combining fluently in the attacking third.

SAFFC’s second goal came out of the blue, catching Woodlands keeper Rezal Hassan on the back foot, as Wilkinson hit a goal of sumptuous power and grace. His unstoppable drive from forty yards out was headed for the top left corner as soon as the ball left his right boot.

A shell-shocked Woodlands side at least ended a chastening first half on a positive note when Jamil came close with a succession of long-range efforts.

“My boys were impressed by our opponents, my job was to convince them that they could do it,” said Bacina of his words at half-time.

“I told my boys SAFFC might not be able to keep the pace because of their ACL involvement. The game is not over yet.”

Indeed, what looked like being a night of pure joy for the league leaders turned into one of worry when the Warriors started to show signs of fatigue as early as four minutes into the second half.

A lapse in concentration saw SAFFC’s backline rooted when Jamil’s strike went past the futile dive of Warriors custodian Shahril Jantan.

The champions rediscovered their attacking instincts even as Woodlands pressed for an equaliser.

Therdsak initiated a series of attacks with well-weighted crosses, for starters one targeted at Duric, who saw his goal bound header swept off the line by Rezal.

In the 55th minute, Kenji Arai came close to adding his name to the scoresheet when his header from Shaiful Esah’s corner was deflected onto the woodwork and away off the wrong side of the line.

Park tricked his way down the right flank, shimmied and turned before he tapped the ball into Duric’s path. The skipper took a huge swing but at air, missing a sitter from six-yards completely.

But Woodlands’ little spark Jamil was showing unrelenting endeavor and that gave his side an injection of confidence, with the Rams pressing and pressuring well as the Warriors’ play fell away.

The spirited Jamil turned past two defenders and released a left foot drive from the corner of the six-yard box, only to see his effort trickle along the goalmouth and cleared out of the danger zone.

Minutes later, he clattered into Shahril in pursuit of a loose ball, winding the keeper to line up a shot at the wide-open goal. Fortunately enough for SAFFC, Daniel Bennett recovered his position in the nick of time to block off the shot.

With SAFFC starting to get twitchy, Woodlands capitalised on their nerves.

Additional ammunition in the form of former Warriors trainee Asraf Abdul Rashid, who was brought on to fuel Woodlands’ final charges, was halted by the late challenge of much-pressured Hafiz Osman.

Rams skipper Azlan Alipah whipped in a cross from the free kick for Iranian Tehranizadeh to level matters, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.

Things appeared to take a turn for the worse for the Warriors when Woodlands fullback Anaz Hadee, a rare figure to be seen in the attacking third, started a move which saw him feed Asraf, who in turn teed up Jamil to finish gleefully.

The visiting fans rose in jubilation, only to realise seconds afterwards their goalscorer had been flagged offside.

They did have a legitimate occasion to celebrate in the 79th minute, when a scrambled clearance from Kenji Arai landed at the feet of Jamil, who made no mistake from six yards out.

The Rams comeback abided a momentary scare when Park, who was unmarked, scuffed a shot right in front of goal. Daniel Hammond was first on it to clear while the whistle had gone for offside in the visitors’ favour.

Two off-the-line saves by Rams custodian Rezal, in the closing minutes, ensured the visitors’ first win of the season. How much he knew about those saves when the shots came pounding in was unclear, but his resoluteness preserved a famous victory.

The final attack of the match came from the visitors when Tehranizadeh was presented with a one-on-one opening with Shahril. The Warriors custodian smartly threw his body to deal the Iranian’s effort, and kept the score line respectable for the champions.

The Rams showed more bite in a tight second forty-five minutes in which they hassled and berated a beleaguered home side, and went home with a resounding feat.

“Of course, I have to be very happy,” said Bacina. “It is our first win and we beat an excellent side, the S.League champions.”

“Take nothing away from Woodlands. The deserved the three points,” said SAFFC coach Richard Bok graciously.

“They taught us a footballing lesson today that football is not about 45 minutes but 90 minutes. They showed us what team work is all about.”