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Nasaruddin: Result on Monday could go a long way
W.Ng
info@sleague.com
Never could the desire for more points be more urgent for two teams, one eager to finally kickstart their campaign, the other desperate not to forge a reputation for themselves as whipping boys of the new S.League season.
Dalian Shide Siwu and Balestier Khalsa lock horns at the Queenstown Stadium on Monday night, neither with a win to their name.
Both know that this could be their best chance to finally secure that first victory that would galvanise their teams and allow them to shake off the spectres of poor starts to the new season that so many teams before them never quite managed to recover from.
Neither side has managed to keep a clean sheet all season, but Balestier have been the better of the two sides after four games, with a creditable 1-1 draw away to Tampines Rovers earning them their sole point this season, amid losses to Geylang, Gombak and Woodlands Wellington.
Former Young Lions stopper Zakaria Normat has distinguished himself between the sticks, pulling off a number of important saves to keep the Eagles, Bulls, Rams and Stags at bay and limiting the extent of the Tigers' losses, while fellow new recruit Paul Bekombo Ekollo has grabbed two of Balestier's three goals so far, including the one that salvaged a point against Tampines ten minutes from time.
New head coach Nasaruddin Jalil has chosen to focus on the positives from Balestier's opening four matches.
"I think it looks good, even though we have lost three matches, which is to be expected because we are a young team.
"I think the boys (have done) quite well. At the moment, we have been playing teams above us, based on past records.
"In almost all the games, we were almost able to get at least a point, and we have managed to create scoring chances. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, the results will come, but I think you could say we were lucky not to have been thrashed by any team."
On the topic of thrashings, Dalian will be desperate to make amends for the 6-1 humiliation they suffered at the hands of SAFFC in their last match.
The league's youngest team, whose players are all between the ages of 18 and 19, have lost all their matches so far, although it must be said in their defence that they have come up against some of the strongest teams in the league.
A 2-1 loss in their opening match to last season's runners-up Home United was followed by a loss by the same margin four days later to this season's surprise package Super Reds FC, who lead the league level on points with SAFFC.
A narrow loss to Woodlands was to come next, before Thursday's mauling by the defending champions.
Dalian, however, will be well aware that with a visit of Tampines Rovers after the Balestier game, a win would lift them off the bottom of the table and do their confidence no harm, and with all their suspended players available again, they are expected to go all out on Monday night.
The Chinese team received some sympathy from Nasaruddin.
"Both of us are near the bottom of the table. Dalian lost by quite a big margin, and will come on very hard in the next game against us. They have had a slow start, and will have to do something about it.
"They way I look at it, they still haven't settled down. Same as us, they have a young team, and I think they haven't acclimatised, because over in China it's still winter now.
"In the two games that I watched, they seemed to be struggling in the second half. But if they can acclimatise, get used to refereeing in this region, I think they can do better.
"We are also getting better with every game, and must be confident of ourselves."
Last season's fan favourite Kaze Giscard is a doubt for the match, while Mushthafa Kamal suffered an injury on Friday that "looks very bad" according to his coach, and is unlikely to feature in Monday's game. |
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