The much anticipated Eastern Derby
between Tampines Rovers and Geylang United lived up to all the
pre-match hype after the Stags beat the Eagles 3-2 thanks to an
injury time strike by Santi Chaiyaphuak.
Geylang coach Lim Tong Hai saw his side come back from behind twice
to level the match but a defensive lapse at the end meant the
Eagles came away with nothing from the contest.
We fought back from being a goal behind twice and while I am full
of praise for my team for showing fighting spirit, they must know
that the game requires full concentration until the end or else all
hard battles will come to nought, he said.
Both Lim and Geylang chairman Patrick Ang expressed their
disappointment with referee T Aravinthans decision to turn down
what they felt was a clear penalty in the 75th minute.
Said Ang: Did you see that foul? It was clearly a penalty. The
referee was not fair with us and was giving all the (favourable)
decisions to them (Tampines).
The Stags had started the match strongly and took an early lead in
the eighth minute. Noh Alam Shah was given plenty of time to head
past Geylang goalkeeper Hassan Sunny with four Geylang defenders
not doing much more than ball-watching in the area.
The Stags could have gone two-up in the 23rd minute but
man-of-the-match Sutee Suksomkit somehow contrived to sky his
effort over the crossbar after more good work by Alam Shah.
Two minutes later, Rafi Alis lob from just outside the area
clipped the Geylang crossbar and bounced away to safety.
The resolute Tampines defence was robust in denying the Geylangs
attack. But as the game progressed, the green tide began to find
chinks in the wall of yellow.
Geylang drew level in the 38th minute. Fadzuhasny Juraimis shot
from inside the area was parried away by Tampines custodian Rezal
Hassan but the loose ball fell sweetly for Syed Fadhil to coolly
slot home the rebound.
The Stags pressed on to restore their lead and came closest in the
44th minute as Geylang captain Aide Iskandar slid Alam Shahs
goal-bound header away.
Geylang gave Dutch-Moroccan striker Abdelaziz Dnibi came on for
Jonathan Xu in the 59th minute for his S.League debut.
But it was Tampiness new signing Sutee who restored their lead off
a curling free kick ten minutes later.
The Eagles fought back strongly and brought on former Sengkang
Punggol striker Kim Grant in the 77th minute to add some beef
upfront. And the goal that the Geylang fans were praying for came
in the 86th minute when Hafiz Rahim tucked away Kims clever pass
beyond Rezal.
With the spoils seemingly shared, Santis late goal off an assist
by substitute Aliff Shafaein killed Geylang off.
A poor defensive clearance on the part of the Geylang defence saw
the ball land at the feet of Aliff inside the area. The midfielder
who came on for Noh Alam Shah laid on an unselfish pass to
Santi, who made no mistake from close range.
Said Tampines coach Vorawan Chitavanich: I am happy we got our
first win at Jalan Besar (Stadium) against a very good Geylang
team.
Although my boys fought strongly and deserved to win, Geylangs
young players were very impressive especially their fitness and
attitude to fight.