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Stags coast past Rams to open six-point lead
Firdaus Khan
info@sleague.com
Tampines Rovers maintained their unbeaten record and opened up a six-point gap at the top of the league with a commanding 4-0 win over Woodlands Wellington at Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Strikes from forwards Aleksandar Duric and Qiu Li, followed by a brace from substitute Khairul Amri, heaped misery on the Woodlands side, who remain second from bottom after this loss.
The scoreline however was flattering to Tampines, as Woodlands had held their own against the league leaders for much of the match, but just failed to find the deadly touch in front of goal.
Striker Abdelhadi Laakkad was the main culprit for the misses as he had a plethora of chances which he spurned. The most decisive of them all came when Hassan Sunny made a mess out of a Kazuki Yoshino cross, and with the goal at his mercy, Laakkad’s shot lacked power, enabling Akihiro Nakamura to clear it off the line with relative ease.
That came moments after Tampines had scored their second goal through Qiu early in the second half, and it reflected a marked difference in confidence levels between the two teams.
The winner of the match had look clear-cut on paper, and an early goal by Duric reinforced those predictions.
Imran Sahib left Sahairi Ramri in the dust as he stormed down the right flank before crossing the ball low into the box. Aliff Shafaein failed to get a touch to the ball, but Duric was on hand to slot home with a routine finish.
Marching inexorably towards the 300-goal mark he looks set to reach before the year is out, the most prolific goalscorer in S.League history was evidently a happy man as he celebrated the goal.
Seconds after Duric had taken his first goal, the Rams had the first of several significant misses, courtesy of Rizawan Abdullah.
The former Balestier Khalsa forward smashed a shot onto the crossbar, much to the relief of Tampines goalkeeper Hassan Sunny.
Clinical finishing was the difference between the two sides; having seen their opponents spurn one glorious opportunity after another, the Stags made theirs count with a well-worked team goal eleven minutes after the restart.
Woodlands coach A. Shasi Kumar had called for a tighter defensive display against Tampines, but his words must have fallen on deaf ears as the Woodlands backline was caught flat-footed by a run from Zahid Ahmad.
The one-time Rams leftback somehow found himself with heaps of space down the left wing. He promptly picked out Qiu, and in a flash it was 2-0.
There was a sense of déjà vu for Woodlands as they had to come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the previous game against Home United. Against the Stags, Woodlands still felt that they were in it and pushed on for the goals.
There was to be no repeat of the previous performance, however, as the risk taken by Woodlands proved to be unfruitful, no thanks to some shocking profligacy on Laakkad’s part.
With yellow shirts piling on the pressure, Amri’s introduction suited the tempo and style of the game. The Singapore forward, who is nearing full fitness, was the super-sub of the match as he bagged two goals for himself.
The first was a beautiful far-post header with 14 minutes left to play, and the second on 88 minutes a typical striker’s finish following an astounding outside-foot cross from Jamil Ali, who had been brought on for Qiu.
Thus Tampines walked away 4-0 victors, and Amri’s half-hour cameo appearance got a stamp of approval from the Jalan Besar crowd.
Stags team manager Syed Faruk was satisfied with the 25-year-old’s performance as well, but he made it clear he still wanted to see a little bit more out of the former Young Player of the Year recipient.
“Khairul Amri is the kind of player who always gets into good positions to finish, but I felt his general play could have been better,” said Faruk after the match.
“Despite all that, he came on as a substitute and scored two goals. What more can you ask for?”
As for his assessment of the game, Faruk acknowledged that things could have taken a wrong turn for Tampines had Woodlands managed to convert their earlier chances.
“We’re of course happy that we got the three points, scored four and conceded zero,” he pointed out.
“But it could have been very different. We were lucky in the first half and in the second half, they had to chase the game and so we capitalised on the gaps at the back.”
Rams coach Shasi rued his team’s misses and defended his decision to push on for goals instead of planning a damage limitation exercise.
“The score was flattering to them, we didn’t deserve to lose by that score line,” said the former midfielder.
“We played good football. We had clear cut chances, but then Laakkad and Rizawan missed golden opportunities for the team.
“Maybe it is just me but I don’t see a point in defending when you’re already down. You have to push on to get the goals. When we were 2-0 down, it was still a long way to go, we had about half an hour and we needed that one goal to get back.
“But the third goal came in and that was it.”
This result means Woodlands have yet to record a win in the S.League this season, and they will have four days to sort things out before they take on Balestier Khalsa at Toa Payoh Stadium.
Tampines meanwhile get a short break before returning to Jalan Besar for a showdown with Home on 9 April. |
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