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Young Lions’ winning streak snapped by Wiredu
Cheryl Lim
info@sleague.com
There was to be no third-time joy for the Young Lions, as they fell to a surprise 0-1 home defeat to Sengkang Punggol on Monday evening and saw their recent winning run end at two matches.
Murphy Wiredu scored the only goal of the game on 65 minutes to help his team leave Jalan Besar Stadium with all three points, but only after the team had held off a series of late attacks by their hosts.
This win would be much welcomed by the Dolphins, as it snaps their losing streak through three consecutive matches, and lifts them off the bottom of the Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League table to ninth place with ten points.
The Young Lions, on the other hand, remained seventh with eleven points, being brought back down to earth after previous back-to-back victories over defending champions Singapore Armed Forces and Japanese outfit Albirex Niigata (Singapore).
The match did not take place in the best of conditions, as a heavy downpour before kickoff rendered the artificial pitch slippery, and the drizzle later on saw several players fall amidst the thick of the action.
Nevertheless, both teams managed to dish out some interesting football, only to be separated by Wiredu’s lone goal.
The Young Lions fired the first warning salvo two minutes after kickoff, when Gabriel Quak Jun Yi drew Sengkang custodian Fadhil Salim into action with a cross from the left.
Seo Su Jong then managed a through pass to Nazrul Ahmad Nazari seven minutes later, but the latter was flagged offside to let the visitors off the hook.
Sengkang were mostly pinned back in their own half until 34 minutes into the match, when Mamadou Diallo fired from the outside of the penalty box, forcing Izwan Mahbud to push the shot out for a corner.
Izwan was again called upon to come out for a flying catch off afloating cross from Duncan Elias moments later.
A good spell in midfield eventually led to Diallo breaking free and skipping past two markers six minutes before the break to let in a floating shot with Izwan off the post, but unfortunately the ball was going nowhere near the net.
If the first half was a little slow, the second half was more alive, as both sides sought to grind out some results to set themselves up well before the first round of fixtures round up soon.
Seven minutes into the second period, a fast Quak cut in from the left to cross, which Fadhil dutifully punched away for a corner.
Six minutes later it was Quak from the same flank again, this time providing for teammate Seo, who saw his goalbound quick kick headed away by Elias on the line.
The close shave turned into good fortune for Sengkang, as leftback Elias became the provider on 65 minutes.
The 24-year-old sent his free kick flying past a sea of defenders, reaching Wiredu, who broke through the crowd to send the ball into the back of the net from the near corner.
“We work a lot on free kicks and set pieces in training, and we have to give credit to Duncan for a good delivery,” commented Sengkang coach Aide Iskandar afterwards.
“At the same time, we also have players who want to score goals and it is good to see that. The whole team deserves a pat on the back.”
Knowing how capable the Young Lions are at fighting deficits, after their previous two come-from-behind victories, the Dolphins were cautious not to fall victim themselves, controlling the midfield with more possession and showing defensive consciousness to avoid any slip-ups.
This managed to restrict Young Lions to attempting wild shots at goal whenever they had the chance, such as Fazli Ayob’s ambitious try from outside of the box on 67 minutes, as the Dolphins fought to preserve their slim advantage against several ferocious waves of attacks from the Young Lions.
Sengkang almost doubled their lead three minutes later, Sobrie Mazelan bringing the ball back to Jordan Webb, who made a shot with Izwan off his position, but Abdil Qaiyyim Mutalib recovered quickly enough to clear it off the goal line.
Another chance three minutes from time saw Webb shaking away Izzdin Shafiq and Faritz Abdul Hameed to shoot into Izwan’s palms.
A dramatic finish could have ended the game in injury time, as Fadhil had to make three volleyball moves to finally clear Seo’s header over the crossbar, much to the relief of the travelling Dolphins fans.
“We were hungry enough to get a win. It is good teamwork to see the team eliminating silly mistakes and working collectively as a team defensively,” said Aide on their victory.
“It is also heartening to see we are taking chances. Unfortunately we should have converted more of the chances, but there is nothing to take away the three points we got.
“It was never easy against the Young Lions. We knew that in the second half they were going to come at us, so we were prepared for that.”
Young Lions coach V. Sundramoorthy meanwhile gave credit to his charges for the positive outlook of their play despite the narrow loss.
“The boys tried. We had created many chances, but if we don’t put them in we won’t see goals,” said the 44-year-old.
“We switched off during that free kick; nobody attacked the ball. It was not an easy free kick because it was a good delivery. The ball was bending away and it was a decision between the defenders and goalkeeper.
“We were disappointed, we wanted to get the points in our home games. Nevertheless, we should start focusing on the next game (against Beijing Guoan Talent on Thursday).” |
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