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Bulls looking to keep up resurgence
Sham Majid
info@sleague.com
Born-again challengers Gombak United will looking to make further headway and wedge themselves into the top three when they take on Woodlands Wellington at Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday evening.
After a less-than-auspicious start which saw Gombak record just three points from their first three games, Darren Stewart’s charges have slowly but surely gone about their business shaping their new-look team around emergency recruits Park Kang Jin and Chang Jo Yoon.
Victories over reigning champions SAFFC as well as French side Etoile FC have seen the Bulls quietly perch themselves in a respectable fourth spot.
While Stewart admitted that he has no grievances whatsoever at his side’s performances so far, he maintained that there is always room for improvement.
“We’re pretty happy with how things are going so far, but we always want more from the team,” he conceded.
“We’ll never be completely satisfied with how things are going. Hopefully we’ll continue and do even better.”
While the Bulls know all about rising to the occasion against the heavyweights, they have also been put to the sword by the likes of Sengkang Punggol and Beijing Guoan Talent, but Stewart was adamant that their losses against the lesser lights does not point to a lack of consistency.
“Yes, we did beat SAFFC the champions, but we don’t count any teams as stronger or weaker at all,” he stressed.
“Every team is on the same level as each other and all of them are tough opponents, especially this year, and the gap is closing.
“There are no easy games at all but luckily, we are level-headed, so we would never see any team as small or expect an easy match.”
Despite trailing league leaders Tampines Rovers by a mere five points, the Gombak coach insisted that any talk of staying in the upper echelons was simply not sticking in his mind.
“We are just taking it game by game, and we hope to go out and get the points,” the Australian elaborated.
“It was the same talk last year when people said we could go on to win the title so early on in the season and it did not happen, and I’m sure Tampines aren’t even thinking about the championship too.
“You can’t be seriously thinking about being a contender at such an early stage of the season, and if there are five more games to go, then we’ll see who is behind us and who is in front of us then.
“But hopefully, we won’t be looking from second from bottom!”
The former Socceroo expressed his belief that their previous clash with the Rams during the League Cup semifinals would count for nothing on Friday, and claimed that the sight of Woodlands languishing at the foot of the table does not paint the true picture.
“There is nothing we can learn from the game against them in the League Cup, and it was a totally different situation then,” Stewart remarked, referring to the 2-2 draw which eventually saw the Rams progress to the final on a penalty shootout.
“Woodlands are not far away, and I think the only one game they really lost was their league defeat to Etoile. They drew against Home United and all their games have been tight affairs where they have lost by the odd goal. They have deserved more from their matches.
“They have players like Abdelhadi Laakkad, Noor Ali, Sazali Salleh who are all quality attacking players, and their Japanese defender (Kazuki Yoshino) is one of the best defenders in the league.
“They might look like a lesser team on paper from their position, but it has not been indicative of their performances.”
Althought Stewart once again has the luxury of a full squad to choose from for this encounter, apart from former Woodlands star Agu Casmir, he admitted that he was in truth dreading the potential selection headache.
“It’s going to get even worse and that’s the bad thing, because I have to leave out players who don’t deserve to be left out,” he remarked.
“You watch them put in a hard shift all week in training, and to then tell them that they won’t be in the squad or that they would only a substitute is hard. That’s when the job gets terrible!”
His counterpart, Rams honcho A. Shasi Kumar, would again pit his wits against a man whom he once shared a bench with while he was an assistant to Stewart at Gombak last season.
Shasi, who had a stint as a caretaker Bulls boss prior to that, will have to cajole his troops once again after slumping to a 0-1 loss against Geylang United, just five days after claiming their maiden league victory against Balestier Khalsa.
The Rams would be especially keen to improve their firepower up front, having amassed a paltry return of just five goals from eight matches so far, the lowest goalscoring side in the league.
Rizawan Abdullah and Mohd Noor Ali have yet to open their league accounts for the year, and it will be a remarkable feat if either of them should do so against the Bulls. |
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