Tampines Rovers vs Balestier Khalsa

Tampines guard against complacency ahead of Tigers clash

Mohd Sham
info@sleague.com

Tampines Rovers will be wary of the pitfalls of complacency when they take on Balestier Khalsa on Wednesday evening.

The Stags perhaps underestimated Balestier, bottom of the table, when the two sides met nearly three months ago and dropped two vital points in a 1-1 draw after Ithamar Rangel equalised Seiji Kaneko’s opener.

Vorawan Chitavanich’s men are chasing the leading pack in the S.League and will be even more aware of Balestier’s threat after they held Home United 1-1 on the weekend.

“We cannot be overconfident when we face them and I think on the back of their minds, the players were thinking they (should have) won when we played them earlier on in the season,” said Tampines team manager Syed Faruk.

“But we can’t take them for granted and we know that Balestier will always give a thousand percent effort in every match.

“No disrespect to them, we know we have better quality players on paper but games are not won on paper but rather on the football pitch.”

“But nevertheless, we should be taking three points and that’s what we are aiming to do against them,” he added.

The former national midfielder has echoed the importance of garnering a win in order to keep up their pursuit of the leaders.

“It’s very important for us to get up a win and the draws earlier on in the season cost us points but now we are picking up,” said Faruk.

“We want to climb up the table and keep the pressure on our rivals so we must go out and play to win.”

After a less than solid start to the campaign which saw the 2004 and 2005 league champions muster three stalemates in their opening three matches, Faruk acknowledged the Stags are slowly but surely finding their rhythm which has culminated in their consolidation of their current fourth spot.

“I think all teams will take time to find their feet and over time, they will get generally better,” he said.

“For example, the Super Reds did not start the season so well as they had a whole new set of players but now they are showing their capabilities and I think the same has applied to us.”

Balestier tactician Nasaruddin Jalil maintained that his charges will take heart from their gutsy 1-1 draw with the Stags earlier in the season.

“We have tried to improve in certain areas and the second round of the season is always a good gauge for us in terms of improvement,” he said.

“For example, we lost to Home United 3-0 earlier in the season but then we drew 1-1 with them in our last match. We also drew 1-1 against Tampines so it’s definitely an encouraging sign for us.

“The performances and results are gradually improving for us and I’m quite happy with the progress made so far,” added Nasaruddin.

The Tigers chief admitted that Tampines will provide a stiff test of his side’s youthful credentials.

“Every team has improved but Tampines have good players such as (defender) Benoit Croissant, and they are getting goals so that’s something we have to worry about,” he added.

“They are the benchmark in terms of how much we want to improve and we want to show how well we can do against them.

“They have quality players and experienced internationals, but my players need to follow instructions and play to the level we can and try to restrict Tampines from playing their game.”