Rams eager to halt Bulls’ charge

Mohd Sham
info@sleague.com

Having vanquished the mighty champions SAFFC four days ago, a resurgent Woodlands Wellington now turn their attention towards toppling the Great Eastern-YEO’s S.League’s current summit boys Gombak United in an intriguing clash at the Woodlands stadium on Thursday evening.

The Rams, who were seemingly on the cusp of a hiding after falling 0-2 behind to the Warriors, stunned their opponents with a classic soak-and-strike strategy to register a famous 3-2 victory at the Warriors’ Arena and in the process, record their maiden league win of the campaign.

According to Rams gaffer Nenad Bacina though, their unheralded triumph against SAFFC will count for nothing should his side fail to deliver the goods against early pace setters Gombak.

Bacina explained, “It doesn’t mean much if we do not put in a 100% percent against Gombak and play poorly after winning SAFFC.

“Moreover, just because we won SAFFC doesn’t mean that we can win all our other matches and that we won’t lose to other teams.

“But of course, the game on Sunday (against SAFFC) will give plenty of confidence for the players and it proves that we can fight against any team in the league and we have to approach the same way against all teams, including Gombak.”

The new Rams honcho echoed a glowing testimony for his opponents, who have amassed an impressive 13 points from a possible 15.

“Gombak are a top team and they haven’t conceded many goals at all and up front, they are very strong”, he commented.

“With the likes of Agu Casmir, Emmanuel Emuejeraye and Kingsley Njoku all playing as attackers, they have a very powerful and dangerous strike force so it is not going to be easy at all.

“But we are confident about winning games and we will not be preparing anything special against Gombak.”

Bacina admitted that his charges’ fightback against the Warriors is proof of the newly added resolve he has been trying to impart onto his players.

He remarked, “My players showed character coming back from two goals down, and this is the fighting spirit which I’m trying to create since the day I arrived at this club.”

“It’s my job to convince the players that they can win against any team, and whatever the outcome, we will take chances and results that come our way and do our best in every game.”

His counterpart for the Thursday game, Gombak boss Darren Stewart, has laughed off whispers of a title tilt from his side despite their terrific start to the campaign.

The Australian said, “In terms of us winning the title, that’s absolute rubbish and we got no chance of winning the title whatsoever.

“This is not even an issue for us and we just want to do as well as we did last year.” 

Stewart acknowledged the Rams’ remarkable victory against Richard Bok’s charges and was especially impressed by his opponents’ collective strength.

“It was a tremendous result for them (against SAFFC) and they showed really good character to come back.

“No one really stands out from their team but they are very good as a unit and we cannot underestimate them as well as with any other team.” 

While the former Balestier Khalsa stopper has stamped his approval on his side’s current form, he hinted there was more to come from his men.

“We have had good results from us so far but we know we can do much better,” he reasoned.

“All the boys are working tremendously hard but we will take it one game at a time.” 

The Rams will be forced to make do without the suspended Ismadi Mukhtar, while Bulls’ attacker Theerawekin Seehawong is a major doubt for this fixture after failing to recover from injury.