Confidence the key for misfiring Stags

Basil Yeo
info@sleague.com

Two teams with early goal-scoring issues clash this Thursday as Tampines Rovers host the Young Lions in what may prove to be a decisive game in overturning the Stags’ lukewarm season so far.

Tampines have scored nine goals so far, a figure that appears more than decent, but they have not been able to find that decisive winning goal that has led them to draw five out of seven games played, while the Young Lions have only netted six, half of those coming from Obadin Aikhena, a defender.

Despite two back-to-back 2-0 wins over Sengkang Punggol and Geylang United, Vorawan Chitavanich’s men have barely awoken from their early-season slump, picking up consecutive 1-1 draws against the Super Reds and Brunei DPMM FC in their next two fixtures.

However, the Stags cannot be faulted for not attacking. The fearsome frontline of Noh Alam Shah, Sutee Suksomkit, Akihiro Nakamura and Aliff Shafaein have been working their socks off each game, ensuring that they remain unbeaten, but where the question of decisiveness is concerned, the Stags have yet to provide the right answers.

With the likes of fellow title contenders Gombak United, SAFFC and Home United coming up in the next four games, Tampines need to work on their act and get their usual confidence going with a convincing victory.

Otherwise, they may see the once-unthinkable prospect of their title hopes waning so early on in the season.

“To be fair to us, Khairul (Amri) has been injured, Qiu Li has been in and out of the team due to injuries as well, and Alam Shah is still nursing his ankle injury,” said Stags team manager Syed Faruk.

“All our natural strikers are having problems, and most goals are coming in from other parts of the team, namely Sutee, Aliff and (Seiji) Kaneko.”

“Our confidence will definitely be affected if we don’t score enough, but our time will come,” he continued.

“Our performance has not been very bad and we have been attacking very well. Once we start scoring a couple of goals, then surely our confidence will come back.”

On the flip side, Terry Pathmanathan’s Young Lions will be well aware that the pressure is not on them, but the boys’ ultimate year-end target of making the SEA Games squad at the end of the year should be a good enough motivation for them to try impressing their fans and the management with a decent showing against Tampines.

Also, Pathmanathan has constantly pointed out issues that plague the young side, such as their lack of experience and technical ability, as well as the fact that their top scorer is a defender – who is also the most experienced player in their team.

In addition, the recent saga concerning import striker Yang Mu’s transfer to the team from Chinese side Changsha Ginde in a league where transfer fees are rare may just be too much for their inexperienced minds to handle.

All the same, they too have to push their worries aside for 90 minutes as they address what will be a determined Tampines challenge.