Sutee orchestrates Tampines triumph

Basil Yeo
info@sleague.com

Sutee Suksomkit put in a stunning display in the first eastern derby of the season to ensure Tampines Rovers came out 2-0 victors over their traditional rivals Geylang United.

The Eagles were hosts for the 'LIVE' game, which was shown on MediaCorp Channel 5, but were almost completely dominated by the Stags, who welcomed skipper Fahrudin Mustafic back into the squad after a two-match ban, and Chinese-born Qiu Li from injury.

Kamarulariffin Karim started for Geylang in place of the suspended Walid Lounis, and was called into action early as he stepped in to clear a dangerous pass from Ridhuan Muhammad on the edge of the box, after the Singapore international had latched on to a return pass from Noh Alam Shah and drifted onto the byline.

Geylang looked to respond as they carried the ball up on the counter, but Miroslav Latiak failed in his attempt to shoot from distance.

Seven minutes later the Eagles were dealt a severe warning when Akihiro Nakamura’s cross beat the entire defence and landed in front of Alam Shah, but the latter could only manage to tip the ball into Yazid Yasin’s grasp from point-blank range.

The Nakamura-Alam Shah combination worked again when the Japanese midfielder’s cross was tipped away by Yazid into the path of Alam Shah, but it took a timely block from Nakamura’s compatriot Haruki Seto to deny the Tampines No.9.

Yazid was tested once again when Nakamura sent in a third cross, which the goalkeeper spilled into the box, but Kamarulariffin managed a clearance as far as Mustafic, who let fly a shot from distance into the former Woodlands custodian.

Sutee had a shot blocked and one over the bar in consecutive minutes, but showed his real worth when Tampines were given a corner on the 37-minute mark. The short corner played by the Thailand international was flicked on by Nakamura to Qiu, who fired a superb shot from the edge of the box into the goal which left even Yazid stunned for words.

Ashrin Shariff attempted to equalize before the break, easing past Zulkarnaen Zainal, but delivered his shot too high.

Tampines piled the pressure on their opponents soon after the restart, forcing Yazid into making a series of stunning saves to keep the score down, which culminated in an acrobatic punch to clear Sutee’s corner.

The Eagles took control of the game for a few minutes when Faizal Senin distributed a swerving cross from the flank to Noor Ali, but he could only see his header glance past the post.

Moments later, the veteran captain squandered another brilliant chance by going for goal instead of squaring the ball to Rickey Harris, who was running in to provide support.

Latiak tried to change things with a shaky run down the middle, and managed to pass to Harris before losing his balance to pressure from Shariff Abdul Samat, but the Canadian striker was flagged offside.

With the one-goal lead looking good, Benoit Croissant was brought into the game in place of Aliff Shafaein to lock up the defence, but the Eagles were still exposed when Zul’s long clearance from the flank picked out Sutee.

The 30-year-old left Baihakki Khaizan at his mercy with a skilful flick behind the latter’s body and rounded him. He then tapped the ball across the goal to the waiting Alam Shah, who finished into the far corner to double the visitors’ lead.

The Thai maestro could have capped off his performance with a goal himself after Ridhuan picked up a stray pass in midfield and found him on the left, but skewed his shot wide of the far post.

Shortly afterwards, the Geylang defence were again let off too easily, this time by Ridhuan, who sent his shot wasting into the rear netting after the Eagles failed to clear a cross sprung from Sutee on the left.

Alam Shah did manage to hit the net for a second time, when Yazid spilled Nakamura’s shot into his path, but the offside flag ruled out what could have been his second of the night.

The enigmatic forward had a hand again in attack, as he drew the keeper out to allow Mustafic a chance at the unguarded net, but the skipper chose to ready a header which was eventually cleared off the line by Kamarulariffin, keeping the score at 0-2 till the final whistle.

“Today we played our football very well in both halves,” said Stags head coach Vorawan Chitavanich afterwards. “I left Croissant on the bench as we played with three defenders in the first half, but brought him on in the second half when we changed to a back four.”

The 47-year-old noted, however, that the Stags were not yet the complete package due to the lack of a regular playmaker, although the return of captain Mustafic may help in that area.

“Despite the win I think we are still lacking someone who can control the rhythm of the game like Mirko (Grabovac) or Rafi (Ali) did in the past,” he added.

“You cannot keep on playing either fast or slow for the whole ninety minutes. I think Fahrudin is a good replacement as he has international experience as the central midfield for the Singapore team.”

“We were struggling to cope with their movement up front in the first half,” said Geylang United’s team manager Lim Tong Hai.

“I took Shah Hirul off as he took a knock in his left knee,” he said. “Initially I put him in as I thought he could stabilize the middle after Yasir Hanapi was exploited by Sutee, but he got injured.”

“We had our chances, but unfortunately we did not capitalize on them,” continued Lim. “Tampines are the type of team who sit back, draw you out, then suck you dry. So when we went out there and tried to find the equalizer we were drawn out.”

“It will be another day at the office and we will have to prepare for the next game (on Monday) against Balestier Khalsa.”