Tampines Rovers 3-1 Tanjong Pagar United
20 September 2013
Jalan Besar Stadium
Scorers Seiji Kaneko 8′, Jamil Ali 9′, Vitor Ladeiras 89′; Kamel Ramdani pen 24′

By Ong Jiing Yih

Tanjong Pagar United may have survived sustained pressure and a sending off but it was still not enough to avert a 3-1 defeat.

Tampines Rovers were gifted the lead inside the opening ten minutes and sealed the match with a close-range strike towards the end of normal time.

However, the visitors controlled possession for much of the second half, made a beeline for goal and earned themselves a lifeline – a 24th-minute penalty converted by the influential playmaker Kamel Ramdani.

A dramatic night ensued when the ice-cool nerves of the Frenchman could not prevent his second penalty saved.

Patrick Vallee had by then been ordered to the stands by the fourth official after perceived to be ranting one time too many.

Vitor Ladeiras eventually lashed in off the post to seal a win which gives the Stags a seemingly unassailable lead at the top of the S.League standings.

Pre-match, and while the distinguished Ahmad Latiff led the side out against his former employers, a massive confidence booster went in the way of Club captain Hafiz Osman who is described by his Head coach as one who “is very strong, never gives up and it’s not in his character to stop”, had a 13-minute cameo as substitute.

Also on the credit side, there was a full league debut for Zulfadli Emran.

Pressed into first team duty at the centre of the park, both he and Hanafi put in good shifts thus allowing Ramdani the freedom and room to create.

There was an early chance for Jamil right within the first few moments only for his attempted lob to squeeze wide of the post.

Following a dubious freekick, Seiji Kaneko edged himself out amidst a sea of players to nod his side in front off a delivery by Shahdan Sulaiman.

Barely a minute had passed when Latiff could not deal with a forward raid by Tampines and as Imran Sahib stole a march on Anthony Aymard, there was to be a gleeful receipient of the stray ball.

Jamil Ali ran across a static defence almost nonchalantly and poked the ball past the exposed Aurelien Herisson.

A routine clearance by Jufri Taha then presented the Jaguars with a first opportunity to strike back in the 15th minute.

However, a combination of goalkeeper and defence denied first Vikraman followed by Ismael Benahmed.

Television replays had in fact showed the former to be offside rendering the outcome inevitable.

Zulfadli was next to test Andre Martins with a skewed kong range effort shortly after.

Chips might have been down but Hafiz Nor then brought it upon himself to drive the team forward.

Strangely, Ruzaini Zainal needlessly conceded a corner that led to the Jaguars’ first hot on target.

In a moment of madness, Martins pushed Vikraman to the ground and with the referee within splitting distance of the incident there was to be only one outcome.

Little surprise a penalty was awarded to Tanjong Pagar, much to the fury of the hosts.

Up stepped Ramdani to put Martins in his place, a sweetly-struck effort that went right past despite the Portuguese net-minder’s best efforts.

The visitors proceeded to turn up the heat having settled down and repeately sent in a series of set pieces only to get no change out of the opposition defence.

A mistake then let in substitute Vitor Ladeiras whose venomous shot struck the crossbar after 40 minutes.

With that split-second of action subsided, there was much food for thought for both teams as they trudge into their respective dressing rooms at the break.

After some desperate moments of play since the restart that left lots to be desired, Hafiz illuminated proceedings close to the hour mark.

His pace and trickery bamboozled first Jufri then Ladeiras as his through ball had Benahmed in the clear, until the Tampines defenders retreated and closed him down in time.

Furthermore, it had been 72 minutes of the match gone when the ball looked to run out unkindly for the second time, in which Hafiz waited or the opportune moment for a corner to be conceded.

Benahmed went close via a freekick which probably deserved to go in for the equaliser.

The next guilty party meanwhile was Ladeiras who wasted the chance to shoot and passed to Shahdan instead.

Onto the last ten minutes, Jamil threatened to break free in search of the result-clinching third goal only to find the uncompromising Hanafi who stopped him in his tracks.

By then Latiff had been pushed forward to his old stomping ground of an attacking role where he had a hand in some late drama.

A tussle with Kunihiro Yamashita inside the box saw the Jaguars no.8 go to ground and all connected to the Club saw that as their great chance to draw level.

Sadly, a saved penalty by the redeemed Martins proved a turning point and that afforded Tampines the chance to seal the match, Ladeiras fending off attentions of Azhar to score.

Post-match, Head coach Vallee was in smiles as he chose to focus on the positives.

“I liked the was the game was played by both teams and it was good to watch. I’m happy with the performance but was disappointed to see Ramdani miss the penalty; it had been a good save. We respected our plan, tried to do our best and played our football. However luck was with Tampines, there were lots of fouls and in order to win, you must have talent and be lucky.

“We missed five players and the team wasn’t the same without them. I’d have been very happy if we came back to draw. The (fringe) players did well and it looks interesting for the future.”