Tampines Rovers vs Balestier Khalsa [1-0]

Gutsy Balestier lose to Alam Shah goal

Basil Yeo
info@sleague.com

Noh Alam Shah’s 27^th-minute header was the solitary goal in a midweek S.League encounter that saw Tampines Rovers edge out a gutsy Balestier Khalsa side to take all three points.

Despite missing several regulars like Han Yiguang, Poh Yi Feng and Seth Galloway, the Tigers managed to take the game to their hosts and keep things close for the remainder of the game.

Seiji Kaneko was left on the bench for the home side due to a rib injury, which paved the way for a surprise start for Aliff Shafaein, despite Alam Shah and Shariff Abdul Samat returning from bans.

The Stags attacked freely straight from the first whistle, as Sutee Suksomkit’s early corner was punched out by Hafez Mawasi.

The job was not over for Hafez though, as Akihiro Nakamura sent the ball on a long punt back into the box for Fahrudin Mustafic, who took his time to control the ball but volleyed his effort straight into the former Rovers custodian.

Alam Shah attempted a take a leaf out of Shukor Zailan’s book from last week but failed as his shot from 40 metres out was no trouble for Hafez.

Qiu Li then managed to force a corner after surging into the box to direct the ball off the byline and out off Jufri Taha’s body.

However, the Stags were tested at the other end as Ram Shanker broke into the box and attempted a shot on goal, only for Hassan Sunny to place it out for a corner.

Bryan Soane also had two chances from set pieces, but both his headers were off the mark.

The Tigers handled an attack by their hosts well to force a corner, but they failed to guard the resulting delivery and allowed Alam Shah a free header into the goal from a superb inswinging effort from Sutee on the right.

That was on 27 minutes, and it sent the home fans into delightful cheers as they dreamed of more.

Balestier though had other ideas, as they kept on pushing at their opponents, believing attack to be the best form of defence.

Ram was a stunning revelation once again as he came through the defence unmarked and managed a well-taken shot on goal, but was denied once again by Hassan’s feet.

Aliff had his first attempt on goal late in the half as Mushthafa Kamal executed a disastrous clearance attempt from Sutee’s free kick, popping the ball into the path of the 27-year-old to allow him a free shot on goal that he should have put on target.

The hosts were unlucky not to increase their lead at the beginning of the second half, when Qiu’s cross on the right missed his target Alam Shah, only to fall into the path of Aliff on the far side.

The diminutive forward slammed his shot onto the underside of the upright, but was left in agony as the ball bounced out of the goal rather than into it to deny him.

There was a sparse run of chances for the Stags in the second half, when Tigers substitutes Anantha Rajan and Rhysh Roshan Rai were instrumental in their efforts to pressure the hosts, but Sutee managed to skin the outside of the near post with a 63^rd-minute free kick.

Ridhuan Muhammad should have increased the lead when presented with an easy chance in front of goal, after Aliff delivered a ball from the left, but he skewed his shot wide with an acrobatic aerial kick from close range.

Late substitute Ithamar Rangel tracked back to defend as the Stags launched a late onslaught for that elusive second goal, but their attempts yielded no results, and they had to be satisfied with the single-goal win at full time.

Balestier head coach Nasaruddin Jalil applauded his team’s efforts for the day, and was satisfied with their performance despite the loss.

“We showed what we can do, we are quite consistent, if we had a bit more luck maybe we could have gotten something from the game,” he said.

“If you look at the type of players they have, my boys did very well to close them down. We did not get outclassed or outplayed.

“We are quite satisfied even if we lost. Nobody wants to lose, but we have to be realistic given what they have. They have national players, but I only have National (brand) battery,” joked Nasaruddin.

“Performance-wise, I must give the credit to my players, but result-wise, we are not improving. The boys worked very hard against a good team. Put it this way, we lost to a better team. I am quite pleased even if the results don’t show.”

“They did not have star players but their players are all good boys, they have fighting spirit,” said Tampines’ head coach Vorawan Chitavanich of his opponents.

“We had a lot of chances but we only managed to score one. If we could have killed the game in the first half then it would have been easier for us.

“Today we didn’t play the same way as we did against Woodlands Wellington, where we were very smooth in the midfield,” he continued, describing his concerns over his team’s performance.

“This time the players could not do it because they put one man on each of our midfield players. They marked our players well and tried to use their fitness to beat us.”