Dolphins left floundering after Balestier draw

W.Ng
info@sleague.com

Sengkang Punggol remain rooted to the bottom of the Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League despite Indra Sahdan Daud’s brace, as Balestier Khalsa moved up three notches to eighth following the sides’ 2-2 draw at Hougang Stadium.

In a match in which the Dolphins conspired to miss two penalties, Indra slotted home the rebound from the first to level the scores after the Tigers had pulled ahead early on through American Seth Galloway, whose goal was his first for the club.

There was no such luck in the second, however, as Winston Yap’s weak attempt rolled wide of the upright after Indra had again equalized in the second half just two minutes after K Vikraman’s header had put his side in front for a second time.

With Aide Iskandar on the bench and the suspended Jerry Bartholomeusz watching on from the stands, Yap partnered Hiroyuki Yamamoto in the heart of defence with Zahid Ahmad and Lau Meng Meng bringing up the sides, while national rightback Noh Rahman took a central midfield role.

Balestier were the brighter of the two sides in the opening exchanges, with Australian forward Bryan Soane serving ample warning of the Tigers’ attacking prowess in the sixth minute with a long-range curler that was held well by Joey Sim.

The visitors needed just four more minutes to open accounts, albeit amid fairly controversial circumstances.

Suspicions of handball by Brazilian Ithamar Rangel as he tried to get the ball under control following a corner were dispelled by referee P Pandian, who waved for play to continue and the ball fell kindly for Galloway, who made no mistake from two metres out.

Awakened by the early deficit in front of their own fans, Sengkang’s grip on the match began to strengthen, with Balestier’s Mahmod Hashim having to cut out a long ball forward that looked destined for Indra, before Murphy Wiredu’s header went harmlessly over the crossbar.

Wiredu then did well to tunnel a path through the Balestier defence, but his shot was parried by Hafez Mawasi and the ball fell fortuitously to a lurking Indra.

With the goal at his mercy, however, the former Home United marksman somehow managed to fire wide, but he was given the chance to make amends for his miss minutes later – and in the event, Sengkang needed a large dose of luck and no less assistance by the visitors themselves.

With 37 minutes on the clock, a cross in from the left by Diallo evaded Wiredu, but former Sengkang man Mahmod allowed the ball to graze his arm, and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Hafez guessed right to deny Indra’s initial effort from the spot, diving low to his left to parry the spot-kick, but Indra kept his cool to rifle home the rebound.

The final chance of the half fell to Balestier, with Vikraman stealing the ball on the right before crossing in, but he could only watch as Ednardo Moura climbed all over Yap to power a header over the bar.

Indra came desperately close to putting his side 2-1 up five minutes after the break when he saw his rasping free-kick come clattering off the upright, but the former national striker could have done better than to miss his next two chances.

The 30-year-old’s shot was blocked well by Hafez after he had picked the ball up in midfield and advanced on goal, while he allowed a Sazali Salleh cross into the box run on a minute later when an outstretched foot would have directed it goalward.

And then it was Balestier’s turn to hit the woodwork, against the run of play.

Soane did his best to craft an opportunity for himself on edge of the Sengkang penalty area as no less than three Sengkang men threw their bodies in the way, and Syaqir Sulaiman latched on to the loose ball to send a long-range effort crashing off the upright.

Wiredu could also have given his side the lead had he possessed more pace after Mushthafa Kamal misjudged the bounce of a long ball forward, but Hafez got to it before the Canadian – and then in the space of five dramatic minutes, Balestier took the lead again, and then nearly went behind.

Soane’s cross from the left in the 63rd minute was met well by Vikraman, who sent a powerful header into goal to restore his side’s lead, but all it took was two minutes for Indra to restore parity.

Showing Jufri Taha and Galloway a clean set of heels, the nippy forward sprang the offside trap to pull a long ball past a sprawling Hafez and score his second on the night and fifth of the season.

The hosts were then presented a gilt-edged opportunity to grab all three points in the 67th minute when ram Shanker brought Wiredu down in the box, and against all expectations, Yap stepped up to take the spot-kick – and promptly sent his effort wide of the post.

Sengkang coach Jorg Steinebrunner brought on Razali Johari in place of Sazali with 14 minutes to go in a bid to inject some pace into his side, and the gamble nearly paid off when a long ball by Lau was played into the path of Razali by Indra, but the substitute skewed his attempt skyward.

Noh Rahman and Syaqir then picked up yellows in the closing minutes that will keep them out of their respective sides’ next matches, but the teams ended the game tied.

A disgruntled Steinebrunner had little to say about the match after the final whistle, but explained the decision to allow Yap to take the spotkick despite the plethora of goalscoring talent in his team.

“Winston has taken a few before, and he did well, and Indra looked a bit off for the first one, so Winston took the second one,” explained the German.

Balestier coach Nasaruddin Jalil, meanwhile, was in a slightly more talkative mood.

“I thought we were unlucky not to get the full points, but it seems the game didn’t want us to win,” said the former national player wryly.

“I have always told the boys that we have to fight, to learn what the problems we have (are), and some of them were off-colour, but the players are human.

“The boys are getting more mature; we were leading for most of the match, and some decisions went against us.

“It was a good outing for the players, perhaps a little unlucky today, but a point is a point, and we are focusing on mid-table.

“It’s the second time we have scored two goals, and there are a lot of things to learn, but I’m happy my boys didn’t show any inferiority.

“We have six points and are not last, which is a good result for us. Hopefully people don’t write us off too soon.”

Nasaruddin ended his post-match comments by calling on his players to enjoy their game.

“I’m not putting any pressure on the players. Let me handle the pressure – they should just work hard and enjoy themselves.”