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Warriors lose focus at Jurong West
Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com
SAFFC’s unbeaten start to their S.League campaign came to an abrupt halt at Jurong West Stadium on Thursday evening, as they succumbed 0-1 to hosts Gombak United.
A powerful low shot from Gombak midfielder Goran Subara five minutes before the break was enough to separate the two sides.
The result was enough for the Bulls, who started the night fourth from bottom, to catapult into fourth place, just one point behind the reigning league champions.
For Richard Bok and his boys, however, coming so soon after their emphatic 3-1 victory over Sengkang Punggol on Monday, this was a performance that distinctly fell on the other end of the spectrum.
Bok had made just one change to the team that had started against Sengkang, Park Tae Won coming in for the injured Federico Martinez.
Darren Stewart meanwhile recalled Fazli Jaffar into the starting eleven for Gombak, with Armanizam Dolah making way in a five-man midfield designed to stifle their opponents.
Looking at the manner in which SAFFC had dominated their last league game, the Australian could hardly be faulted for adopting such a strategy, and the initial pressure suggested that Gombak might have a tough fight on their hands.
Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin tested Zaiful Nizam five minutes in with a low shot from 30 yards out, and Indra Sahdan Daud looked dangerous early on as well, nearly working his way into the box before being muscled away by Obadin Aikhena.
It did not take long to notice, however, that the Warriors did not have their ‘A’ game with them, least of all in the passing department.
For all that Bok said at the start of the year about wanting his team to play the kind of pass-and-move football associated with Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka, it was clear that the players themselves had yet to internalise that concept.
It did not help that they faced a Gombak team determined to stop them from getting into rhythm, whether by surrounding and containing them or through more direct means.
Subara picked up a booking after 17 minutes when he took down Taisuke Akiyoshi, but Mustaqim Manzur fluffed the opportunity to make Zaiful work when his free kick attempt from 35 yards out turned into a rugby conversion.
The Bulls might not have been slick players themselves, but while individual technique may not be their strong suit, they definitely understood the notion of strength in numbers.
Bogging SAFFC down in midfield as far as possible, the hosts did a good job protecting Zaiful, who was seldom called upon to do anything beyond the routine.
The 22-year-old did have a scare when one of his own defenders diverted a Razaleigh Khalik cross to him midway into the first half, but showed good instinct to kick the ball well clear of his area.
Instead, it was Warriors custodian Shahril Jantan who had the thankless task of picking the ball out of his net on 40 minutes.
Fazli had earned a corner with a sprint down the left flank, and Park Kang Jin delivered a good ball towards the far post, where Bah Mamadou headed the ball high up into the sky.
As all the SAFFC players craned their necks wondering where the ball would land, Subara snuck in from the edge of the box to connect powerfully from a tight angle and send it firmly into the bottom corner.
The visitors almost managed a reply just before the interval, when Indra could perhaps have done better with another free kick that was in a central position.
But it was only after they had come out of the dressing room for the second half that their sense of urgency became evident, and even then Daniel Bennett had to dispossess Chang Jo Yoon in the penalty area before the latter could set up a one-on-one with Shahril.
Latiff had another low shot from distance caught by Zaiful on 58 minutes, and then Akiyoshi saw two free kicks go to waste as Gombak defended resolutely.
Subara was particularly prominent as he screened his backline well, twice knocking the ball away from danger in quick succession 13 minutes from time to wear SAFFC down further still.
The Bulls’ work almost came to nothing twice in the final minutes of the match, when first Latiff blasted the ball high amid a goalmouth melee and then substitute Rhysh Roshan Rai could not get a shot on when played through by Indra.
For all their late huffing and puffing, though, SAFFC had not done enough to salvage anything out of a match where they simply did not look involved as a team, and so had to leave the field empty-handed.
Bok declares ‘poor game’ hard to accept
SAFFC coach Richard Bok was left shaking his head in disbelief as he watched his side put in a tepid performance against Gombak United, leading to a 0-1 loss on the night.
It was a far cry from the emphatic, high-energy game they had put up against Sengkang Punggol three days earlier, which at the time had led Bok to salute them for their work.
Looking back at those comments as he reviewed this match, the 40-year-old admitted to thinking about taking back his words.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have praised the players so much on Monday!” he quipped.
“We are not showing what we did on Monday any favours with this performance. We did well in that game, but this was the complete opposite.
“I think today, it was a poor game for us, definitely way, way below par. Especially in the first half, there was no mobility, the passing was not there, the support neither.
“At least in the second half, I can see them putting the effort in, but still I think we had a poor game overall. From the players’ quality and the team we put out, we shouldn’t have been so poor.”
The Warriors now stand five points adrift of league leaders Tampines Rovers after five games apiece, a gap Bok said the team must bridge as soon as possible.
“It’s early in the season, but five points is still five points,” he remarked.
“We must really clip them back, get the points and try to get as close to them as possible. There are going to be lots of games in-between, so hopefully once players like John (Wilkinson), Noh Rahman and Rico (Martinez) can come back, we’ll see how it goes.”
Gombak coach Darren Stewart meanwhile noted that the win was a huge boost to his team’s morale, after they had to cope with the blow of losing Kingsley Njoku and Ojimi Gabriel Obatola.
Both strikers were denied employment pass renewals last month, which left the club robbed of the duo’s services just as the season was getting started.
The positive response from the other players since then was a surprise to Stewart, who praised his charges for their industry against the league title holders.
“I was pleased with our performance, the boys really, really just got out there,” he said.
“To get three points in this period, against the champions no less, was a huge bonus. There weren’t really many clear chances, but our buildup play was good, and we got in some good areas.
“I take no credit away from SAFFC, they’re a good team even with their reserves. But the way that the boys got over what happened to us recently was just really, really good.” |
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