Wrecki’s Monthly Review: June 2009

June 2009 was highlighted by the League Cup in the first half. I had summarized my view on the tournament previously.

Prior to the S League returning with a bang, there had been some eye-catching headlines which caused some rippled in the scene for those who care.

Of course, my beloved Sengkang Punggol saw a drastic change in the backroom staff and even the board of management. The incumbent chairman Mr Ben Lim and vice-chairman (and former chairman) David Rowe had made their exit as the new chairman Bill Ng came on board.
Jorg Steinbrunner, the coach which David had lobbied for the job too tendered his resignation 24 hours prior to the match against Tampines Rovers.
It might paint a scenario of disarray and bewilderment in the Hougang camp but for our long-ailing side, its always good to have a brand new start though we seemed to have many mid-season changes when things do not go well (and yes things had never gone well for us for a long time).

Personally I believe in stability in the structure. Build the foundation, create the infrastruture, inculcate a youth system and eventually reap the rewards.
But patience is not a virtue in professional football, and welding the axe looked such a simple and alluring choice.

So assistant coach and team captain, Aide Iskandar took over the reins of the head coach at interim basis while there are interests in securing a qualified one as Aide has yet to clinch the Class ‘A’ coaching license required for a S League gaffer.
So far the choices are rather limited unless we looked elsewhere outside our island nation.
Former Tampines general manager and yet another national team captain, Nazri Nasir had joined the renaissance as the Prime League coach.
The choice looked palpable as it would benefit Nazri who like Aide is en route to acquire his Class ‘A’ license while our young players had yet another professional role model to look up to.

Elsewhere the Koreans of the Super Red had not had a rosy month of June.
After being knocked out of the League Cup in rather acrimonious fashion with the likes of Choi Dong Soo and reserve keeper Jeon Bong Seong started a scuffle which saw them facing finies slapped by the club.
Perhaps they wanted to conserve some money to foot the unpaid wages claimed by the likes of lanky centerback Joo Ki-Hwan and another guy.
Nevertheless the generic looking South Koreans still able to clinch slender comeback wins over Balestier and Sengkang Punggol, like if there’s any doubt they can’t do it.

Speaking of Balestier Khalsa, Bryan Soane should be in the Detention Barrack if he was enlisted in our army as he went AWOL (absence without leave) and scurried back home to Australia, seemingly citing homesickness or whatever as a reason.
There were high hopes pinned on the 20 year old to produce his goal scoring antics to propel the Tigers to a respectable side but 3 goals later, he is gone. (Well at least it was not paying 100 of thousands for a certain Brazilian who only play 45 minutes of football).
In the live telecast snoozefest against Super Reds, the Tigers could only field one foreign talent, Ednardo Moura and the Brazilian made his appearance count with a goal and another effort which came off the upleft.
The youngsters did looked decent throughout the season despite the results not coming their way but the fighting spirit they had endorsed certainly ensure they hadn’t been humiliated so far this season. Kudos to their effort.
Meanwhile the club was quick to replace Soane with former midfielder Mba Vitus Onyekachi.

Home United was the last survivor to hold the Singapore flag in Asia with their participation in the last 16 of the AFC Cup.
Once again PN Sivaji choked when it mattered in the one-off qualifying tie as his side succumbed to a 4-0 mauling dished out of Hong Kong Premier League side, South China.
Sivaji to put up a 2nd string side for the entire League Cup campaign so that his senior players could rest for this game but it backfired badly.
In the end he came out with the pathetic excuse that his first team was a bit rusty from the lack of competitive matches in weeks.

Despite being knocked out early in the League Cup, majority of the Young Lions had some competitive actions when they were called up for the Under 23 friendlies against African nation Botswana and then neighbours Indonesia in the space of 5 days.
Both games were supervised by national team coach, Radojko Avramovic which could a deciding factor on how come the boys did not shamed themselves like they did against their Malaysian counterparts in a game taken by Terry Pathmanathan.
Early goals settled the game against the African side which ended 1-1 while the lads truimphed against Indonesia 2-0 in a hot-blooded match which saw 2 players from each side being sent off.
The fracas broke out into a debate of views on the local papers’ forum to spice things up a little.
Another game is lined up for the U23 selection against newly-incorporated A League club Gold Coast United FC which might be the toughest acid test as yet.

The Asian Youth Game had been keeping the nation buzzing as much as the alarming increase in H1N1 cases of late.
In fact the pandemic which had spread like wildfire had put the games in jeopardy when some players of the Philippines and Hong Kong football team were downed with the illness and had to be quarantined.
The 2 teams eventually pulled out of the competition but the football games began as the pulling out was in the works.
Goals galore from the qualifying stages while as host nation, our U-14 boys were given the bye into the next stage.

They had to meet the likes of Iran, China and our age-old rivals Thailand in the second stage group.
In the first game against Iran, the boys did well but lost the game 2-1 down to a moment of brilliance from the Iranian skipper.
For once we got to watch our age-group squad in action n TV and at this age, it did look like it was even ground in terms of physique and even skills.
One really can see the joy of playing the game at that tender age till being thrown into the professional side of things might corrupt their talents eventually.

After losing 4-1 to Thailand in the next game, the Cubs’ chance into the semi final is now hang on the balance. But there was no shame nor should we scrutinize their play since they are still so young and should be given room to progress.
I truly hope to see the likes of Jeffrey Lightfoot, Jonathan Tan, Izwan Rahman, Hanafi Akbar and even pudgy keeper Fasbah Iskandar fulfilling their destiny in the future.

S League 2009 – Match 16

	Opponent: Super Reds FC Date: 29th Jun, 1945hrs Venue: Yishun Stadium Final Score: 3 – 2( Choi Dong Soo 53′, 58′, Kim Yoon Sik 85′ (Pen) -Anthony Bahadur 2′, Murphy Wiredu 29′)
As the drizzle came to a halt at Yishun Stadium, I was baffled how we had lost the game after started so brightly. With Murphy returning from suspension, Sazali was given a rest as the tenacious Canadian switched to the left wing while Shane Neubronner came in for injured Zahid Ahmad on the left side of defense. The visiting team looked psyched up With the pitch terribly slippery due to the rain pelting down since afternoon, the Dolphins surprised the home team with Anthony Bahadur scoring his 4th of the season. Super Reds looked stifled on the front line even if our Prime League defender Shane Neubronner showing some jittery which was understandable. Nervous time for Shane Then we went on extend our lead with Murphy showing great control and composure to tuck his shot past Kang Su-Ho. It is now his 3rd against the Koreans this season. Our front line were giving the hosts some problems especially the running of Mamadou on the right while some of our players were at the brunt of some rough treatment. We headed into the half with a rather unbelieveable 2 nil lead. Murphy looking fresh from the break Our new Prime League coach, Nazri Nasir with national hero Fandi Ahmad My friend, Bryan who was watching the match with me then made a passing remark on whether the coach of the Super Reds would show his team the tape of the Brazilian comeback against USA in the Confederation Cup final from 2 nil down. The talismanic duo of Choi Dong Soo and Park Han Seok who scored twice at Hougang Stadium to try reclaim some pride and boy did they done so. Choi was a handful on the left wing putting Lau Meng Meng in a horrible time while the Koreans attacked relentlessly with many useful balls which bobbled in our box dangerous. Then in 6 minutes of collective switching-off the hosts managed to level the score to bring a pandemonium in the home fans stand which otherwise was pretty muted all these while. Choi Dong Soo was given too much space to steathily sneaked behind our defensive line to cannon one past Amos but the second which was from a corner which none of our players made any effort to clear, left Choo all clear to head into an empty net. It could be a third if Amos Boon did not pull a reflex save which many of us were harping about even after the game. It took around 20 minutes when our attack start taking initiative with Mamadou once again proving a handful on the right wing. A dink towards Anthony was unfortunately flagged offside whiel Murphy had a chance to score again but his shot took a deflection. WIth minutes to go and we looking to go for the draw, Farizal Basri came in for Anthony who had been badly cranked up. Farizal coming on for Anthony But Super Reds were determined to go for the win and had a penalty call when Choi was felled by Jerry but referee T. Aranvinthan adjudged it as diving but refused to show him the yellow card. Eventually another defensive mistake saw Choi sauntering to goal and was brought down and this time it was a penalty much to the incense of our team. Kim Yoon-Sik stepped up and put it away for the lead which they held on till the end. Kim Yoon-Sik delicate spotkick win the game The home team did a famous comeback It was surely a game of 2 halves as the gulf between us and the more superior teams was exposed. I was sore not because of the loss but allowing Super Reds to come back from dead when we deserved more in the end. The repercussions of the match were much costlier than the 3 points as Noh Rahman picked up his 7th yellow and Nor Azli got sent off from 2 successive yellow cards and so there goes our entire midfield for the tough home game against DPMM FC. Nevertheless Sengkang Punggol looked reinvirgorated of late and we should look to create more shocks.

Super Reds vs Sengkang Punggol: Pre-match

Before we begin, this is the 100th post of this blog. Although the fish hasn’t really even reached the surface of the water as yet, we see a lot of support from fellow fans, media and of course the club. We hoped with the recent shake-up in the club, we can have a chirpy time for our next 100 posts ahead.

Ok back to the preview.

Last season,  we came to Yishun Stadium and was convincingly taught a lesson in attacking football as the Bears gave us a 4 nil mauling.
Two of the goalscorers in that game, Park Kang-Jin and Choi Dong-Soo, are the few remnants of that side which really took the league by storm for the 2008 season.
This season the team blew hot and cold yet is still able to chalk the points to see them consolidating the 5th placing ahead of other luminaries like Geylang United and Home United.

The Super Reds came off a reasonably tough match at Toa Payoh Stadium just 4 days back and was pretty lucky to come off with the 3 points.
An innocuous back header with turned into an unfortunate own goal by Sahairi Ramri gave the Koreans the win but they did looked to play more enterprising football in attack against a Balestier side with only 1 foreign talent.

Meanwhile, our team had an extra day of rest and would be encouraged by a decent showing in the 1-1 draw with Tampines Rovers.
With Murphy Wiredu back from suspension, caretaker coach Aide would have the entire squad to choose from but seemingly Zahid Ahmad who lastesd only 20 minutes or so the last game might be unfit for this tie.
The likely replacement might be either Meng Meng or Nor Azli Yusoff or perhaps Aide had enough faith in Zahid’s substitute Shane Neubronner to continue blossoming in that role.
Shane as we observed in the Prime League made up for his lack of speed and pace with composure and that might come in handy against the marauding Koreans.

I do fancy the combination of Nor Azli and Noh Rahman as the shield in front of the defense, the former giving us a steely grit which Abdoulaye had to do so this season.
Then the Guinean has always been a playmaker type of midfielder and perhaps he could provide the missing link between midfield and the forward line.

Ultimately which 3 of the 4 from Anthony, Murphy and the Diallo brothers would Aide choose tonight?
Mamadou looked to really become a good addition to the forward line of late and many fans were delighted at the display he put against Tampines on the right.
Anthony despite continued haviing problem to hold on to the ball or finishing the chances provided to him, is still a handful with his running and physique. However many wonder why he couldn’t win more aerial balls in the last game against Sahriff Samat who was  slightly shorter than the lanky Canadian.

As usual the odds would stack against our team but if they can display the same sort of fighting spirit as seen on Thursday, it would surely warm the hearts of many, including myself as I embark the short, lonely walk back to my apartment in Yishun.

The wind of change comes ablowing

Guess this report is about as close as a press release from the club about the sudden management change.

All-change Dolphins start over again

With strong financial backing from businessman Ben Lim and the signing of seasoned players like Singapore internationals Noh Rahman and Indra Sahdan Daud, Sengkang Punggol looked the real deal after years of struggle at the wrong end of the table.

They started brightly enough, garnering four points in their first three games, and looked all set to fight their way to a place in the mid-table order as coach Jorg Steinebrunner spoke excitedly of a new ‘challenge’ for the club.

Since then, unfortunately, things started to go pear-shaped behind the scenes as the club struggled to cope with huge financial pressures, and boardroom infighting for control ensued.

The off-pitch issues had an impact on the Dolphins as they struggled to build on the early promise and slumped at one point to second from bottom in the league table.

By the time the Hougang-based team resumed their league campaign at home against Tampines Rovers on Thursday, they were already eliminated early in the RHB Singapore Cup and League Cup competitions and had only pride to play for in the league.

While the playing side stays mostly intact for now, major changes have already occurred in the coaching and management levels as the club looks to start over again.

Former vice-chairman David Rowe had resigned from the board last week, while Lim has already handed the chairmanship reins to Bill Ng, who is with the club’s main sponsor CNMC Goldmine Limited.

Steinebrunner also agreed to leave the club on the eve of the Tampines game and was given two months’ pay as compensation, leaving his assistant-cum-captain Aide Iskandar to presently take charge in a caretaker capacity.

The German’s departure was kept away from public eyes until just hours before the game, and he has thus far remained unavailable for comment.

Although Sengkang responded well to earn a 1-1 draw in the immediate aftermath, the recent events in Hougang have left the players in shock as they tried to comprehend and come to terms with the flurry of changes in backroom personnel.

“I was quite surprised and did not expect the changes as they were quite abrupt,” admitted Indra, to whom Aide has passed the armband.

“Jorg is a nice coach and we get along well. It was just simply unlucky that recent results did not go his way.”

Veteran goalkeeper Amos Boon is also saddened by the departures of Rowe and Steinebrunner, and revealed he made contact with the latter upon his resignation on Wednesday.

“It came as a shock to me,” confessed the 36-year-old.

“I have known David since the first day I came into the club, while Jorg and I had played together previously.

“I am personally still friends with them, so when Jorg left, I sent him a message on the phone which he replied back.”

“It was a bit of a shock for me personally as we respect Jorg a lot,” added Aide. “He was the one who brought me in and we worked well together, but this was a management decision.

“The results we had recently is not entirely down to the coach, we are the ones playing so we have to take our share of the blame as well.”

The former Singapore international skipper has previously taken care of the first team when Steinebrunner was unavailable for the club’s trip to Brunei to face DPMM FC, but the Tampines game formally marked his debut as senior head coach.

Sengkang general manager Robert Tan was pleased with the team’s performance under Aide and suggested that the caretaker coach, who is presently pursuing the AFC ‘A’ License coaching course, would eventually be the permanent choice.

“Tonight the spirit is there,” said the experienced administrator.

“The chairman’s objective on the coaching side is to have a local coach at the helm.

“Since Aide is taking the ‘A’ license and he is embarking on his coaching career, why not we give him a chance to manage the team? This is a good opportunity for him to gain experience.”

The possibility of having Aide in the hot seat long-term is one that has received the players’ backing, with further endorsements from Indra and Boon, who were also his teammates at Home United.

“Aide organizes the team well as a coach and hopefully we keep on improving under him,” said Indra.

“His experience as a player speaks for itself and he is no stranger to us, having played with us before,” added Boon.

“The players are respectful of him and I am sure he has various things up on his sleeves.”

The seasoned defender has made it clear he will be focusing on his new role on the bench for now as he tries to steady the Sengkang ship.

“I will not rule out on myself playing or not, but for the time being, I will rather step out as it is easier to do coaching on the outside than at the inside,” said the 34-year-old.

He has promised every Dolphin will have a chance to prove himself under his stewardship before making further decisions whether to make changes on the playing side.

“I can’t decide right now and need another two games to see the responses of the players,” he added.

“I will give equal opportunity to everyone. If they give me what I want, they will stay; if not, I will make the changes.”

With the new appointments in place, Tan has also revealed the club’s other plans under the new leadership.

“Our first objective is to find more new sponsors to help the club out,” he said.

“The chairman is also looking at youth development as well, so we will be looking at beefing up our Centre of Excellence and Prime League teams to ensure we have sustainable all-local teams in the future from our products.”

Dolphins stalwart Boon is hopeful the steps laid out by the new team will put the club in good stead, after new chairman Ng met the team in training on Wednesday.

“I have been with the club for eight years and from what I can see, the club is finally moving in the right direction,” he said.

“The assurances and security the new chairman have given us are good indications as we have our mouths and families to feed and we have gained renewed zest for the game.

“While it is tough to tell for now with the change in coach and tactics, the boys have reacted well and we will see through the remainder of the season.”

(Report by Gary Koh and Tam Cheong Yan from S.League.com)

We look back for the lessons learnt and forward for progress. In his short term as chairman, Mr. Ben Lim has already brought a great amount of growth to the club, from a perennial no-hoper to a competitive outfit with the capacity for greater things to come.

The torch has now been passed to a new chairman to carry on the good work, and so far his vision about having a continual flow of local players and coaches has already enthused me.

Here’s wishing Mr. Bill Ng every success in his endeavour, and we’ll be sure to lend our support in anyway possible.

Thank you, Mr Ben Lim

This excerpt was taken from Shamir’s article in TODAY:

While the writing was on the wall for Jorg, I had never envisioned almost the entire management to make their departures as well.

We at Fish out of Water will like to thank Mr Ben Lim, the former chairman of Sengkang Punggol FC for all the assistance he had provided us in some of the first hand information of the club. He had always been generous and approachable since pre-season this season when we are in need of anything.

Mr Lim was an amicable man who is passionate about his role as the chairman since middle of last season.

While many cynics went on to frown at his high-profile signings of national team players like Noh Rahman and Indra Sahdan and even labeled us the “Manchester City of S League”, the basic aspiration behind those moves was just to make Sengkang Punggol a respectable club which play decent football.

Somehow things did not work out on the pitch despite the slew of new signings, seemingly should be a rung or two better than the previous teams.

In the end in professional football result unfortunately is everything.

Personally I had thought Sengkang Punggol would be heading to better things in years to come under the tutelage of Mr Lim and now I wonder if it might be realized if a bit more patience was installed.

Nevertheless we would like to wish Mr Lim all the best in the future endeavors and good health & happiness to him and his loved ones

S League 2009 – Match 15

	Opponent: Tampines Rovers Date: 25th June, 1945hrs Venue: Hougang Stadium Final Score: 1 – 1 (Hiroyuki Yamamoto 6″, Noh Alam Shah 87”)
On a day when USA National football team shocked the world by ending Spain’s 35 matches unbeaten streak by beating them 2-0 in the semi finals of the Confederation Cup, Sengkang Punggol did the almost impossible…drawing with Tampines Rovers. Sometime around this time last year, Mirko Grabovac was elected as the interim coach when Saswadimata Dasuki when on his hiatus; it seems like history might had repeat himself not that Aide is resuming the role of caretaker coach but details are sketchy till the official words from the club. Aide’s role at the sidelines saw Jerry Bartholomeusz assuming the centerback role, one which he strived at and he was exemplary tonight alongside Hiroyuki Yamamoto. His right back role was given to Lau Meng Meng who looked a bit rusty after not playing for such a long while. Murphy’s suspension means one of the foreign talent slot could not be utilized and Aide decided to add Mamadou Diallo and Anthony Bahadur to support skipper Indra in attack. The midfield role was given to Nor Azli Yusoff or Boy and he too was crucial to the setup of the game, complimenting Noh Rahman to clean up things in the midfield. Finally the man between the sticks was assigned to Amos Boon and the 35 year old justified his selection as well. I sat beside a band of noisy Tampines fans in the open air gallery and many were unhappy how their team had been slack with the play in the beginning and from a corner by Mamadou, Hiro headed in his first goal of the season. He had hit the frame twice this season and surely had to open his account eventually. Hiro the hero of the night From then on, the Stags went berserk in search of their equalizer for the remaining of the half and had to bring in Noh Alam Shah after half hour for their goal quest. Our players held firm for the remains of the half and referee Leow Thiam Hoe played a part, incurring the wrath of the Tampines fans who came in strength this evening. It was really like their home game as the men in blue camped within our half. But in a rare chance in attack, Anthony Bahadur found himself free with the goal gapping but his tame shot was parried by Hassan Sunny. Zahid Ahmad had to leave the procession early and in came Prime League defender Shane Neubronner and the former Home Utd trainee didn’t do too badly though jittery at times. Tried as they might but the goal didn't arrived Many including yours truly expected Tampines to peppered the half with relentless assualt at our goal and that was what exactly happened. The Stags showed slick passing ability and carved out many chances with Qiu Li even hitting the top left corner of the frame and Noh Alam Shah saw several chance balked by Amos or Jerry. Meanwhile we had a golden chance when Mamadou sent a cross from the right which Indra connected but his volley was not executed properly. Nor Azli had a clash of head with Qiu Li and came off bad but even the bandages couldn’t put his fiesty display down. Qiu Li surely had the metal head that Boy lacked If only we could score a 2nd Tampines finally scored their goal in the 87th minute when a delicate cross on the right was guided past Amos by none other than Noh Alam Shah. They did deserved the goal and were of course in hunt of the winner as they looked to cut the points advantage of the top 3 but we just held on with Mamadou and Nor Azli sent the racuous Tampines crowd to hurl abuse for time delay. Well it was a tactic and with the gulf of class between the 2 sides, we just needed to hang on to the draw with referee Leow giving only 4 minutes of added time. It was a hard earn draw for the Dolphins and I finally saw the fighting spirit I had been clamoring for and hope it would persist for the next 2 games. Well done, lads!

Sengkang Punggol vs Tampines Rovers: Pre-match

After 3 whole weeks of inactivity on the pitch, I wonder if our team hard finally clear off the cobwebs and mildews as they laid dormant in the closet.

Void of any sort of momentum or form, our team played our first home game (in Hougang Stadium) for 2 months or so against the team we had dreaded to meet Tampines Rovers.

It would be the first of 2 games in 5 days as we then headed to Yishun Stadium to face Super Reds on Monday.
In an idealistic world, the Dolphins should get 6 points from 2 useful wins but I can’t help to be pragmatic and felt one point might be the best haul from these 2 games or even 3 when DPMM comes to Hougang in July next.

It was blatant that our team had yet to snitch a point from the top 5 as yet (even in cup competitions) this season and doesn’t looks likely the form book would alter any sooner unless we can instill some sort of fighting spirit and edge in our play.
Sometime it looks like we are just conceding to fate about our inferiority against the top 5 sides especially when we are a goal or 2 down.

Another issue that would be we not able to convert half chances as we should. It was well documented that Indra Sahdan is carrying almost all the goal scoring responsibility himself while lack or composure and at times luck made it hard for the rest of the lads to find the net.

Going into this game, we will be short of the service of Canadian Murphy Wiredu who picked up his 4th yellow card of the season in the game against Geylang United.
While his usual athleticism would be missed, it is a good chance for the fringe players to come out and have a go.
His suspension also mean we cannot bring Mamadou Diallo in as the fourth foreigner but Jorg might pick the young Guinean over Anthony Bahadur as he did in the last 3 games.
Noh Rahman (6 yellows) and Abdoulaye Diallo (3 yellows) had to be careful not to get into the referee’s black book or they would miss the game against Super Reds.

In the Tampines camp, it seems like Japanese midfielder Akihiro Nakamura would be out for a couple of months due to injury as mentioned in his blog.
Beside long term injury personnel in Khairul Amri, the Stags looked to have the full team to choose from, even Noh Alam Shah who was struggling in the Singapore Cup quarterfinals but surely he would fancy to add to his goal tally against the leakiest defense in the S League.
When you have a defender like Seiji Kaneko who can score goals or bench players like Shukor Zailan and Fathi Yunus who can score goals as well, I am sure we will see us struggling to keep a clean sheet tomorrow.

League Cup 2009: The Afterthoughts

So Brunei DPMM FC had went on to snag the 19 days energy-sapping Mickey Mouse Cup from the grasp of mighty SAFFC who looked set to win the only domestic cup they had yet to win (although they did won something similar back in 1997 or something).
Perhaps the Bruneians had celebrated it like they had won the World Cup with parades and procession on the street and fireworks galore.

Overall the objective of the tournament surely had met its purpose which was to put the depth of each S league club into acid test and to see if the usual benchwarmers of all the teams could step up into the challenge.

In the end the Bruneians truly shown their mantle despite at time couldn’t play with their best eleven. They had grind and shown grit while a total of 11 goals scored in 5 games had dismissed the call of them being a boring side.
It was also the platform to give the coach everyone in Singapore loves to hate, Vjeran Simunic to thread on more danger waters with his recalcitrant comments which even compatriot Nenad Bacina, Woodlands Wellington’s coach took offense of when the former stated his team could had won by a score of “8-2″ with the chances they had.

However many times I wondered if you take away their foreign signings like Rene Komar, Ivan Jerkovic and Hamid Berguiga would DPMM be the same team to grind our results at will. I am sure they are always ready to prove the doubters wrong.

One guy nearly did proved the doubters wrong would be Home Utd’s coach, P.N. Sivaji. After his faithful right-hand man J. Surachai had left for his homeland when Thai Premier League side Bangkok Glass came calling and the impending clashes with Hong Kong First Divison side South China in their AFC Cup quarterfinal ties, the man who many netizens cum critics had asked for his head, shown faith in his reserves and the young Protectors shown they are more than ready to step up and do the job, showing indication that they are the squad with the most depth.

While many ribbed at his selection against SAFFC in the semi-finals, I felt he did the right choice to stick with those who can carried them to that stage so far who nearly did got away with it against a badly-fatigued SAFFC but the Warriors shown too much experience.

In fact the army men were pretty lucky to sneak through as referee T. Aravinthan and his incompetant linesmen went on to “rob” Tampines Rovers of a legitimate winner from Noh Alam Shah in the final minute of the quarter final tie.
It surely looked like chairman Teo had now got a rude awakening for his comments made on the inept refereeing in Singapore.

Woodlands Wellington put on a great effort en route to the semi final but how things would had turned out if our team hadn’t gave them 2 cheap goals on the platter during the group stage.
Even up to the 3rd/4th placing playoff in a rematch against Home Utd, they had shown their resilience and fighting spirit which surely would please their band of bouyant fans always ready to get into vociferous cheering behind their club.
Goals from nippy Jamil Ali, goalkeeping heroics by Rezal Hassan and a wonderous goal from Iranian Mojtaba Tehrannizadeh against DPMM surely would be the highlights in their run.

Gombak, Super Reds and Tampines would look back on the campaign on what could had been and felt they ought to do a bit better.
Of course we knew that the Stags had been met by injustice, Gombak United losing in successive games kille their good form so far and Super Reds failed to score when they needed to but always take comfort with the fact that their bench is always ready to put on a fight..literally.

The scuffle between Super Reds and Woodlands surely indicated that teams are treating the games more seriously than the viewers as passion was still riding high.
Azlan Alipah’s slipping off the bench as he tried to get into the thick of the action would be an image they would run on our heads to bring a gleeful laugh from time to time, but it also showed the benches at Jalan Besar Stadium aren’t the best to house our substitutes where the dugout should be a better choice.

While we went on to witness a slew of penalty taking, it was not a good sight to see several international players like Duric and Noh Alam Shah missing their spotkicks at will but heartening to see Precious Emuejeraye and Baihakki Khaizan impeecable from the spot.

Baihakki’s Geylang proved to be the most entertaining team with the 3 games they played giving us 14 goals, sadly 8 against them.
Balestier Khalsa put up a good fight and only went to concede 2 goals, including one in like 20 seconds from Ruhaizad Ismail. The draw against Super Reds was a credible result for the Tigers.
Albirex Niigata (S) lost both games and is the team with the worst records by statistics in the tournament but were not been disgraced.
Finally Sengkang Punggol FC… Should really had done better but with Joey Sim’s wayward goalkeeping it was going to be tough.

Last but not least Football Channel on Starhub did an exemplary job in broadcasting of the tournament. The overall quality of camera shots, pre-match and post match reviews and interviews and the standard of commentary from Shehzad Haque and tireless interview work from PJ Roberts is decent especially when you compare with the plethora of misfits from Channel 5’s Friday Night Football, and even the publicity done, had showed that when you put in some effort to broadcast live football matches, you can create something watchable even in the most yawn-inducing affairs.
Kudos to a kind soul for putting the clippets up online for those of us still not prepared to pay that exorbitant price for cable football.

With this distraction out of the way, it is back to League action.

DPMM, the League Cup Champions

Congratulations for being the first foreign team in S.League history to win a piece of local silverware.

Going into the final without influential captain (Sallehuddin Damit) and two foreign signings (Ivan Jerkovic and Abdelhamid Berguiga), the Wasps were able to put on a spirited display and come away with a seemingly impossible victory over the three time league champion, incidentally their third win on the trot over the Asian Champions League participant and S.League most successful side.

Adding onto that achievement, they finished the competition with a 100% winning record and Jerkovic snagging the golden boot with four goals in four games.

Guess it’s high time people stop putting them down and honor them the respect they deserve.

Route to glory
Group Stage
1 – 0 Albirex Niigata (S)
Haji Subhi Abdilah 23′

3 – 0 SAFFC
Ivan Jerkovic 27′, Shahrazen Said (43′), Abdelhamid Berguiga 75′

Quarterfinal
5 – 3 Geylang
Abdelhamid Berguiga 35′, Rene Komar 37′, Ivan Jerkovic 58′, Ivan Jerkovic 66′ (P), Rosmin Kamis 90′ (P)

Semifinal
2 -1 Woodlands Wellington
Ivan Jerkovic 26′, Abdelhamid Berguiga 56′

Final
1 – 1 SAFFC (4 – 3 PK)
Rene Komar 10′

Poll: Best Local Talent that Played for Us

Alright, let’s do away the doom and gloom shrouding our club of late and do participate in a long delayed poll…

Regardless what happened at the end of the season, the likes of Indra Sahdan Daud, Noh Rahman and Aide Iskandar will surely be perhaps the biggest luminaries in local football scene to ever grace the Hougang pitch in years.

Before this season, our status as the perennial strugglers did not put us in the good light as the top tier local footballers would shun us for a chance of silverware with the bigger boys. What remained to slug it out in our lost cause to try stay off the bottom and not be humiliated would be a band of seasoned journeymen with career winding down the road, young upstarts eager for playing time and cameos of a few past internationals.

Let’s recollect the years gone by and give a shout to some of the more memorable local players which had contributed to the good (or maybe the bad) of our team in the past:

*Note: All players listed were not part of the playing squad as of this moment, with the exception of Amos Boon. There is no bare minimum amount of time each player required to stay with the club.
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After a month of polling with a total of 47 votes being cast, the accolade of the best local or should I say most memorable local talent for our club is… Amos Leonard Boon!

The 36 year-old custodian was by a long short the longest serving player for our team with about 8 years at Hougang Stadium in a span of 13 years career.

Amos beganhis professional journey as a young and able deputy for Croatian Dragan Talajic at Tanjor Pagar United (started as Tiong Bahru United).
In his 3 years there, the Jaguars attained the bridesmaid spot for 3 consecutive season the S League and won the Singapore Cup in 1998.
A talented side coached by Dutchman Robert Alberts and made up of some of the best local talents like Lim Tong Hai, S. Subramani, Samawira Basri, Lim Soon Seng, Nahar Daud, Basri Halis anf future Marine Castle team mate Steven Tan.

When given a chance to play regular football at the new kids on the block of the S League, Marine Castle in 1999, Amos took up the challenge and was rewarded with the No. 1 spot.
Although Marine Castle made a name as a perennial strugglers with the penchant to concede a truckload of goals, Amos’ popularity among the fans was gaining strength over the seasons.

He only left the club when it ceased operation in 2004 due to misappropriation of funds and did not return with the club returning as Paya Lebar Punggol. He returned to professional football a year later, joining Steve Darby’s Home United.
In his first year with the Protectors, they won the Singapore Cup though Amos only made a handful of appearance off the bench.

A year later, Amos returned to Hougang Stadium with Trevor Morgan now in charge of a team by the name of Sengkang Punggol FC.
The Dolphins would attain 11th place in the 2 successive seasons with Amos between the stick though the first year was the cellar spot.

When Hassan Sunny left Geylang United for Tampines Rovers in 2008, the goalkeeping spot at Bedok Stadium became open and Amos with his experience was poached.
Despite the Eastern-based club ended the season in the 6th position, the fans were not happy with the mid table mediocrity and blamed the porous defense which conceded the second most number of goals in the league for holding the club back.

Amos’ stay at the Eagles’ nest lasted only one season and eventually he returned to join the revolution at Sengkang Punggol in 2009.
Now at the sunset of his career, Amos looked to play mentor for the younger Joey Sim till the continual misdemeanor from the younger keeper saw Amos reinstated as the regular keeper again.

Beside football, we all know Amos is an wakeboarding enthusiast and was/is the chairman of the Singapore Wakeboarding association. I am sure the sport surely helped keep his agility and concentration.

Amos had also dabbled into TV show presenting as he had done interviews (for Starhub?) for the S League Awards event in 2007 and recently had done commentating in Friday Night Football.
It was pretty decent, just need a little polishing I feel.

Amos was neck to neck with 2nd placed Steven Tan and won by just 3 votes.

The former Singapore international came to join Sengkang Marine in 2002 and was instrumental in enabling our team to finish 8th in successive seasons which till this date remained our best finish in a season.

Below Steven is a band of former players had played a part in the club unillustrious history but still did well on professional level to entertain the fans which at the end of the day was the most important.