Alam Shah salvages point at Hougang
Cheryl Lim
info@sleague.com
Noh Alam Shah’s equalizer three minutes from time saw Tampines Rovers grab a point at Hougang Stadium as they drew 1-1 with Sengkang Punggol on Thursday evening.
The strike cancelled out Hiroyuki Yamamoto’s sixth-minute header, which for a good 81 minutes gave hopes of a full three points to a team which needed a booster after a disappointing League Cup campaign earlier in the month, especially after personnel changes in the club management.
Sengkang’s captain-cum-assistant coach Aide Iskandar was appointed caretaker coach just a day before the match, alongside with businessman Bill Ng, who took over Ben Lim as the club’s new chairman.
With Murphy Wiredu suspended, Aide opted to include Mamadou Diallo ahead of his elder brother Abdoulaye to complement Indra Sahdan Daud and Anthony Bahadur upfront, while for Tampines, having Noh Alam Shah on the bench meant Aliff Shafaein would support Qiu Li in attack.
Tampines sounded a warning from kickoff, with the fast-paced Ridhuan Muhammad charging down the right flank before Yamamoto cleared the danger.
The resulting corner fell to the feet of Stags skipper Fahrudin Mustafic, who curled the ball into the arms of Amos Boon.
Sengkang replied almost immediately with captain-of-the-night Indra shooting off target, while two minutes later he turned provider for Bahadur who beat the offside trap and sprinted, but Hassan Sunny was up to the job as he came out of his line to clear.
The Dolphins then took the early lead in sensational fashion after Yamamoto headed in Diallo’s corner, which took the match to a fast and furious state within seconds.
Tampines looked desperate to restore parity while the host aimed to increase their advantage, seeing Indra curling into Hassan’s arms from distance.
Aliff missed a great opportunity to equalize after he headed Sutee Suksomkit’s cross from left off-target on 16 minutes, while at the other end of the pitch early substitute Shane Neubronner managed to get past Seiji Kaneko and whip in a cross from the left, which Hassan again handled well.
Alam Shah was introduced onto the field on 32 minutes in place of midfielder Shukor Zailan to boost Tampines’ frontline, but the Dolphins were able to keep their feet firmly on the ground to keep the Stags at bay.
Bahadur then missed a close tap-in just before the break, while Qiu wrapped up the first half with his shot saved by Boon.
Sengkang continued to fire warnings of their intent after half-time, Diallo beating Benoit Croissant to make a pass to Bahadur who failed to make it meaningful. The ball then fell to Indra who miskicked and sent it into air.
Indra then saw his freekick tipped over the bar by Hassan in the 58th minute, in yet another heart-stopping moment for the 1,602-strong crowd.
Tampines surged forward looking for the elusive equalizer, creating chances after chance, but were unable to break down the opposition defence despite the relentless assaults.
Qiu first saw his shot from the left miss the target, and then he was unlucky to hit the crossbar in the 78th minute as the Sengkang defence hurriedly cleared the ball away.
The resulting corner did not turn out to be any better as it was kept away from the crowded penalty zone, but it strayed to the path of Sutee who crossed the ball back into the middle, meeting Mustafic outside the box.
The latter then let in a shocker which eluded everyone in the box into Boon, who struggled to keep the ball in his hands but managed to recover before Alam Shah could capitalize on the situation.
The moment for Tampines eventually came three minutes from time, when Alam Shah unleashed a powerful stunner inside the penalty area to bulge the back of the net and rescue a point for his side.
Having pulled a goal back late in the game, Tampines attempted to make full use of any available remaining time to their advantage. However, both Firdaus Kasman and Mustafic saw their efforts in injury time sail over the crossbar.
Tampines head coach Vorawan Chitavanich was a relieved man as his team avoided defeat.
“We did not do so well in the first half, but the second half was better as we controlled the game. We had many chances but did not manage to score, for example when Qiu Li hit the bar. But the players pushed the play and got the goal.”
All eyes were on Aide at his second game in charge at Sengkang, the first coming against DPMM FC in March when his predecessor Jorg Steinebrunner did not travel to Brunei with the team for reasons unknown.
“Credit to the boys, they performed very well today against an experienced team like Tampines. They were very organized and disciplined, which made it difficult for Tampines to come back.
“Today we showed we were the hungrier side. The result did not go our way despite our performance, but it showed that not only quality and performance are important but also hunger.”
Aide explained his decision to put Boon in goal instead of Joey Sim, despite the veteran starting just one game prior to the night.
“Amos showed that he wanted to play, so he was given the opportunity. I have confidence in both our keepers. Joey is still young, and Amos performed very well today.”
The former Singapore international also shared his thoughts on whether he would continue as a player after being given a more important role in coaching.
“I will have to keep myself from playing as it is easier to do coaching from outside of the team rather than being inside as a player as well, but I will not rule myself out from playing because we never know about injuries and suspensions when I might need to step in.
“It is important for us to get as many points as possible now. All players in the team are trying very hard to get some good results.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment