Sutee preserves unbeaten start for Stags

Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com

Sutee Suksomkit maintained Tampines Rovers’ unbeaten start to their Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League season, as they earned a 1-1 draw with DPMM FC on Friday evening.

The result at Jalan Besar Stadium did little to help their title hopes though, as they cut the gap between themselves and early leaders Gombak United by just one point to six.

Shariff Abdul Samat’s freak own goal on 63 minutes gave DPMM a shock lead, after the Stags had dominated proceedings for much of the preceding hour.

It took a piece of brilliance from Sutee’s left foot to restore parity for Tampines, but a host of misses meant that they could not add further pressure at the top of the table.

Four wins and two draws in DPMM’s opening six games had lifted them to a surprising third place in the league table, and those jealous of the Bruneian’s position might well have hoped for Tampines to dish out a reality check.

Vorawan Chitavanich’s charges had more selfish reasons to seek victory in this match, and they showed their intentions by playing a hybrid 3-4-3 formation that featured Sutee in a supporting role up front as Zulkarnaen Zainal moved into the wingback slot.

The two-time league champions opened the match in slow, deliberated fashion, focusing on maintaining ball possession and making patient moves around the turf.

This was reflected by the coach’s own serene posture as he sat on the Tampines bench, while opposite number Vjeran Simunic, who was virtually standing on the touchline from the first whistle, was frantically trying to agitate his DPMM players into action.

They responded by dishing out a physical brand of football that seemed primarily focused on flying in and knocking opponents down, and only Ridhuan Muhammad’s nimble footwork kept him from being brought to his knees on numerous occasions.

Akihiro Nakamura was not so lucky, as he was left writhing on the ground following a challenge by Oh Ddog Yi on 19 minutes, an offence that earned the Korean a booking.

Oh was a frenzied presence on the pitch as he soaked up the abuse hurled at him, and it rubbed off on his teammates as they tried to play a kick-and-rush game.

Tampines on the other hand were happy to pace themselves as Nakamura, Sutee and Aliff Shafaein took charge in the middle – an achievement made easier by the Wasps’ abject shortage of creative ideas from their five-man midfield.

The trio combined on 28 minutes in a corner routine that almost yielded a goal, Aliff cleverly dummying a Nakamura corner that was sent towards Sutee at the edge of the box.

Unfortunately for the Thailand international, his blast was blocked by a defender, and Aliff’s recovery on the left was wasted as he passed the ball into the side netting.

At the other end, Oh was struggling to establish an understanding with strike partner Shahrazen Said, who looked off-colour as he drifted everywhere across the front.

23-year-old Shahrazen was barely visible for much of the match, apart from a special piece of headwear he sported after 26 minutes, when he received treatment for what appeared to be a wound above the eyebrow.

Ironically, his biggest contribution came on 37 minutes, when he cleared a Noh Alam Shah hook amid a spell of intense Tampines pressure from a chain of dead-ball situations.

That helped relieve the stress piling on custodian Wardun Yussof, who put in a diffident display as he often flimsily punched rather than caught balls in the air.

Tampines were steadily turning the heat on DPMM and they knew it, as the frustrated visitors committed foul after cynical foul.

Sairol Sahari was booked on 41 minutes when he caught Ridhuan’s leg on the turn, and Sallehuddin Damit was very lucky to avoid the same fate shortly afterwards when he put his forearm into Nakamura’s face with a smack that could be heard above the fans’ din.

They should have gone a goal down four minutes after the break, when Wardun botched a straightforward catch from a Sutee cross and the ball spilled towards Aliff.

Perhaps stunned to see such a mistake from the top custodian in Brunei, the 26-year-old could not keep his shot down from the edge of the box and thus fluffed the chance.

The Stags were getting more confident as they dictated the tempo of the game, so it surprised most in the 3,809-strong crowd when they fell behind on 63 minutes.

A wild cross by Sairol appeared harmless, but Shariff attempted to head the ball clear, only to end up sending it past his goalkeeper Hassan Sunny.

The 24-year-old was unlucky to win the unwanted honour of scoring the first own goal in the league this year, but he held it together a minute later when he cleared a goalbound Shahrazen shot off the line.

His teammates up front, meanwhile, were still trying to translate their dominance into goals, and Nakamura came closest when he saw his pointblank shot deflected away from goal by an unaware Sallehuddin on 71 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, Sairol gave away a silly free kick just outside the penalty area when he handled Aliff’s attempt to lift the ball past him.

Up stepped Sutee to take the free kick, and he delivered with a neat left-footed curler that squeezed past Wardun and prompted Vorawan to stand up and applaud admiringly.

Both teams stepped up efforts to find a winner late on, DPMM substitute Abdel Hamid Berguiga forcing a good save out of Hassan on 81 minutes.

Alam Shah’s shot from inside the box was then clipped out of play by sweeper Rene Komar, and both teams settled for a point apiece – although one clearly deserved more.

Alam Shah: Dropped points ‘disappointing’

Tampines Rovers striker Noh Alam Shah admitted concern over the team’s inability to claim wins, after he and his teammates mustered a 1-1 draw against DPMM FC.

It was the fifth time this season that Tampines had to settle for a share of the spoils, as they stand six points off the pace after seven games.

The Singapore hitman added, however, that he was satisfied with the Stags’ performances on the pitch, and he expressed his belief the team will start picking up points soon.

“It’s disappointing in a way, in that we are not getting the results,” he said after the match.

“But we are gaining confidence from our performances, and we have to look more on the positive side. No disrespect to the Brunei team, I think we played very well, but we just didn’t have the luck.

“The good thing is we still haven’t lost, and there’s still a long way to go. We should not be complacent, and hopefully the goals and results will come.”

DPMM coach Vjeran Simunic claimed he was happy with the result, saying that he was expecting his team’s unbeaten run to end against Tampines.

Praising his opponents as a high-quality team filled with stars, he expressed no surprise over Sutee Suksomkit’s free kick that gave the Stags a point he felt was ‘deserved’.

“I expected us to lose today; we got a very big point against Tampines,” said the Croatian.

“I knew when we conceded the free kick and Sutee stepped up, I knew it would be a goal. It is like a penalty kick for him.

“They deserved an equalizer. In fact it’s better that we didn’t win today, because if we did, it would make everyone get too big an appetite and start thinking of being champions.

“We are already getting much more points than I think we deserve. We never made a target like what we have now, but now I want us to be top of the table after our game against SAFFC, because that day will be my birthday.”

Alam Shah admitted he was surprised to see Algerian striker Abdel Hamid Berguiga start the game on the bench, as he singled out the 34-year-old for praise.

“Their No.10 reminds me of the Iraq No.10, Younes Mahmoud,” he told sleague.com.

“I think the coach is crazy not to put him in the starting eleven! He’s a brilliant player, and we’re lucky he didn’t start against us.”

When quizzed on the issue, Simunic had a ready if bizarre response.

“I don’t like the Algerian, but I have to put him in because the club bought him,” he said without skipping a beat.

“I also don’t like my No.8 (Oh Ddog Yi), he is not good in this game. But I play these import players because it’s the rule that we have to play these import players.

“I don’t like using import players, I like local players more. I have a very nice striker, Abu Bakar (Mahari) on the bench, and if I can play him together with my best player Shahrazen (Said), it will be like the Brunei national team.”