*Lions in pole position for second round*
The Lions have put themselves in pole position to go through to the
second round of the FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifying tournament
following a comprehensive 4-0 win over Palestine in Doha on
Monday.
A brace from Shi Jiayi plus goals from John Wilkinson and Noh Alam
Shah gives Singapore a massive advantage going into the second leg
at the National Stadium on 28 October.
Jiayi gave Singapore the lead a minute before half-time as he
connected with Mustafic Fahrudins cross from the right with a firm
downward header that gave Palestine goalkeeper Ramzi Saleh no
chance.
Eight minutes after the break, the Home United midfielder unleashed
a fierce shot into the bottom corner after an excellent
defence-splitting pass from Khairul Amri, to make it 2-0.
Another fine pass from Young Lions midfielder Khairul Amri found
Wilkinson charging into the box from an onside position while the
Palestine defenders were distracted by Agu Casmirs clever
dummy.
Wilkinsons clever dink over the onrushing Ramzi Saleh was his
second international strike after his goal against the United Arab
Emirates last month.
Four minutes before the end, Alam Shah got himself on the end of
Khairul Amris cross to nod in the Lions fourth goal of the
evening.
It was a good result, said Singapore coach Radojko
Avramovic.
I felt tonight we scored the goals that we couldnt score against
the UAE (last month) and in the June friendly tournament (against
DPR Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia) so it was good to see all
the things we tried out at training finally coming off.
(Shi) Jiayi scored two very good goals and I felt that John
(Wilkinson) did well, providing extra security in midfield and
doing plenty of running and passing.
I am happy to see that no one is seriously injured so the players
must take care of themselves when they go back to their clubs and
only then can we look at the second leg.
Singapore: Lionel Lewis, Baihakki Khaizan, Precious Emuejeraye,
Faizal Hamid (Ismail Yunos 78), Daniel Bennett, Mustafic Fahrudin,
Shi Jiayi (Shahril Ishak 74), John Wilkinson, Khairul Amri, Noh
Alam Shah, Indra Sahdan (Agu Casmir 59)
Booked: Khairul Amri 20, Faizal Hamid 37, Ismail Yunos 87
Palestine: Ramzi Saleh, Edgardo Montero, Ismail Al Amour (Mohamad
Al Chiri 46), Roberto Adauy, Fady Abulatifa, Majed Abusidu, Onar
Jarun, Ibrahim Al Sweirki (Taysir Amer 62), Ali Nasaar, Mohammed
Mohammed, Fahed Attal (Ahmed Keshkesh 82)
Booked: Ismail Al Amour 34, Majed Abusidu 90 + 2
