Woodlands Wellington vs Geylang United Report [0-2]

Butler and Belicak show wins it for Geylang

Ong Jiing Yih
info@sleague.com

There was joy in front of goal for young Englishman Lloyd Butler for the third match running but this time he was joined by a team-mate on the scoresheet as the Eagles overcame Woodlands Wellington 2-0.

Butler, who scored in 1-0 wins over the Super Reds and Home United, was on target again at the Woodlands Stadium, before Slovak Rastislav Belicak’s rasping drive wrapped things up in the second half.

With hosts Woodlands looking to build on their 1-0 win over Balestier Khalsa previously, the visitors were looking to 20-year-old Butler for inspiration upfront.

The Eagles retained an unchanged lineup from Sunday's win over Home United while Woodlands inserted Ismadi Mukhtar in place of the suspended Luis Eduardo Hicks.

It was an eventful opening and after Eagles midfielder Syed Thaha had sent a cross straight at Rezal Hassan, an error by Geylang defender Walid Lounis almost opened up a route to goal for the onrushing Zakaria Yousif.

Rezal, the veteran in Woodlands’ goal, then had to be on his toes to tip Butler’s shot around the post for a corner. Anaz Hadee then had to head away with Butler lurking in the box.

Geylang skipper Noor Ali then turned the lanky Daniel Hammond but sent the effort with his left wide of Rezal’s goal.

The 34-year-old Rezal sustained an injury in the first half but was to manfully soldier on for the first 45 minutes, before being replaced by Ahmadulhaq Che Omar at the break.

The pain of the injury must have been compounded by the concession of the first goal after 12 minutes. Pushing forward on the counter, Ashrin Shariff found his skipper Noor Ali with a fine ball but keeper Rezal was quick to deny his former Singapore team-mate.

The ball ran loose though and Butler was on hand to slot home his third S.League goal, despite a suspicion of offside.

The Rams had to regroup quickly, knowing that they had yet to test Yazid Yasin, the former fan favourite at Woodlands Stadium who moved to Geylang in pre-season and was making his first trip back in the opposition’s colours.

Yazid finally had some work to do on 26 minutes, after some good work by Syaiful Iskandar down the left flank led to a chance for former Geylang man Jamil Ali, who stung the keeper’s palms with his effort.

Woodlands came close to restoring parity when Mojtaba Tehranizadeh evaded his marker but headed skipper Azlan Alipah’s corner over.

The game then settled into a pattern where Geylang held a slight advantage and held the aces for long periods of the first half.

Woodlands defender Precious Emuejeraye had to hack away a goal-bound header from Lounis, while his defensive partner Hammond tried his best to create something upfront, placing a header out of play following Ismadi's freekick.

The home side seemed to grow in conviction after the interval as they found some semblance of fluency that nearly broke Yazid's resolve not once, but twice.

After Anaz sent a bouncing effort straight at the keeper, Yazid was thanking the heavens for a huge let-off after Woodlands’ Egyptian forward Yousif amazed the 1,466 crowd by somehow sending his shot from well inside the six-yard box wide.

Despite taking the fight to Geylang the home side gained no reward and went two down in the 59th minute.

A loose ball in the box was not adequately dealt with and after Ahmadulhaq twice fumbled, Belicak stepped in, fixed his eyes on the ball and rasped in a stunner from 25 yards.

That peach of a shot gave the Slovak his second of the season and ensured Geylang had some breathing space.

Their young midfielder Yasir Hanapi entered the fray with half an hour of the match remaining and caught the eye with his fleet footwork.

A sizzling run by the 20-year-old winger threatened to produce a third goal but Precious came to the rescue before Yasir could pull the trigger.

At the other end, Woodlands’ own nimble winger Jamil was doing his utmost to claw a way back with two quick efforts in succession, although he could do little to trouble Yazid.

Geylang defender Baihakki then nearly put the game beyond doubt after a rare attacking foray into the Woodlands box, but crashed his shot high and wide after being set free by Thaha.

Eagles coach Mike Wong was pleased with his Geylang side's efforts throughout the ninety minutes, although he had some cause for concern as the game wore on.

“We organised well defensively but I was concerned about Woodlands picking up the second balls later in the game,” he said.

Wong also hoped there was more to come from young goalscorer Butler, after his third goal in three games.

“I'm happy for Lloyd as he works hard for the team. It's not easy for him to make the step up from the Prime League but he bites his teeth and keeps going.

“We wanted him to be a part in our engine room and hopefully after getting the midfielders to join him, he will become more mobile in games to come,” added Wong.

Meanwhile Woodlands tactician Bacina had no complaints about the result. “The first goal changed the complexion of the game. We didn't perform well in the first half and seemed shaky at the back,” said the Croatian.

“Having expected both sides to defend we found ourselves in a state of shock after going behind. However, we controlled the game after the break but once Yousif missed a sitter that became a decisive factor.

“We could have won the game by waking up ourselves with a goal but could not find the net from chances created.”