Reaping the Benefits?

The verdict is out…

The culpable parties of that infamous brawl at Jalan Besar had duly been punished.
And from the look of it, our own Young Lions might had instigated the whole fracas as well.

Ultimately points were docked, players were suspended and fined (some more severe than the others), and management shown remorse in the closing statement, time to let the unsavory episode laid to rest.

However with the points reduction, it makes things rather interesting in the bottom half of the table, and perhaps something Sengkang Punggol can reap benefits from.

Even with the reduction of 5 points, Young Lions still consolidate their 7th position with a better goal difference over Balestier Khalsa.
The Dolphins had defeated as well as been soundly beaten by the Young Lions over the course of the past 3 seasons; in 2010, the records remained at a win and a draw for Sengkang Punggol.
With the likes of talismanic striker Khairul Nizam, as well as fringe players like Gabriel Quak, Madhu Mohana & former Sengkang Punggol Prime League player Fairoz Hasan missing in the ranks, coach Aide might be optimistic of claiming another win under his belt.
The fact that the team won at the Young Lions’ home turf of Jalan Besar Stadium twice in 2 seasons should bode well to their cause.
Of course this match had been postponed without a definite date.
Hopefully it would be in October with Young Lions having their hands full with 3 games in like 2 weeks while the Dolphins playing once.

As for the kungfu kids from Beijing, Sengkang Punggol’s records against them had been pretty decent as well.
After knocking them out of the League Cup at Yishun Stadium in February, it was 4 points out of possible 6 for Sengkang Punggol and like against the Young Lions, it could very well be 7 out of 9 in the final match of the 2010 S league season at Jalan Besar on 12th November.

Beijing will have to contemplate with facing Gombak United & SAFFC from their postponed fixtures as well as traveling to Balestier Khalsa and hosting Albirex Niigata; all of whom would not think twice to pounce on their lack of manpower especially inspirational skipper cum goalkeeper Sun Boyang, midfielder Meng Yu & striker Zheng Ye who had notched 3 goals in the league.

I could almost guarantee the Chinese lads would be scorned and scowled at wherever they play (maybe perhaps not against Albirex) and would take a lot of mental strength to meander through the final few games but iit could be highly likely they end up pointless by the time they square up against the Dolphins in November.

I truly hope by then Sengkang Punggol could have climb above them in the standings and deal them with the coupe de grace.
I know the troop from United4United would be there in full vocals to spur the team on and douse whatever fighting spirits left in the engine of Beijing Guoan.

Nevertheless it is still up to the team to make the most out of the final 4 games.

Beside the 2 winnable games, facing a rather toothless Geylang United at Jalan Besar Stadium should not be a daunting aspect, not with how they had been playing as evident from the game on TV against Albirex.

With Tampines Rovers seemingly out of the title race (but never count the eggs before they hatch), they could put the gas off the pedal at Hougang Stadium but a draw would be a mightily fine result in that fixture.

Of course, people might claimed that the final outcome could be orchestrated by the whole punishment affair and not by the team’s merit.
But for the long suffering fans of the team desperate to climb out of the bottom two, I guess they will take anything.