By Song Sung Hai

The performance on display by the Jaguars would normally have been enough to see off any teams at Queenstown Stadium but last night was just not the night. An ultra-defensive Darren Stewart’s Rams saw them scoring from their only real opportunity and it was enough to see them trot away with a 1-0 victory over the Jaguars.

The first half saw the Jaguars set the pace for the game while Woodlands Wellington dug deep and at times appeared to be playing with a 9-1 formation leaving only Chang Jo Yoon alone up front as a target to hoof the ball up to.

Firdaus Idros came close in the 11th minute when he danced past his marker at the edge of the box and a blistering right-footer flew over Yazid Yasin and dipped just over the bar.

Seven minutes later saw Monsef Zerka managing to get a shot in from a Hanafi Salleh lay-off but Yazid Yasin was equal to the task and palmed the ball away. Mere minutes later, a free-kick in from Monsef found Hafiz Osman who saw his volley veer upwards past the bar.

The rest of the half saw the Jaguars mount attacks after attacks but a deep Woodlands defensive line strived to frustrate.

The best chance of the night for the Jaguars came in the 60th minute. Firdaus Idros’ cross was met by a lunging Sebastien Etiemble but his glancing header destined for goal was redirected over the bar by Yazid Yasin.

A rare attacking move by the Rams saw Chang Jo Yoon getting the ball in the Jaguars’ side of the pitch and he managed to earn a corner-kick for his team. It was from this ensuing set-piece that the Rams registered their first and only effort on target. It also got them their goal.

An unmarked Taufiq Ghani met the corner-kick with a sharp header downwards and Aurelien Herisson was left to pick the ball out of the net.

Woodlands Wellington then had the luxury to pack as much as 9 men in their box in the face of endless onslaughts by the Jaguars for the remainder of the game. Every cross and shot in would have needed a laser-guided targeting system for the ball to manoeuvre past the mass of Rams herded in front of the goalpost.

Head Coach Patrick Vallee was rightly disappointed with the result as he felt his lads were definitely the better side.

“At this moment, luck is not here. It was only one corner-kick, one set-piece, and they got their goal,” he reflected. “They hardly had the ball during the game while my team moved the ball around well.”

Patrick could find no fault with his team and praised their fierce fighting mentality.

He added, “My players respected the game plan and they followed it very well. If anything, I think we may need to do something to have more accuracy in front of goal. Football is like that. Sometimes things go well, sometimes things go bad. We will not give up and we will work hard to change our luck.”

It may be then that the Jaguars had just recorded our third successive defeat but all the defeats were merely by one-goal margins. It was clear to see that the team enjoyed superior possession once again and it is only a matter of time before the quality of play finally translates into goals.

Only then will we all hear the fat lady, maybe currently on a slimming diet, sing once again at Queenstown Stadium.

Till the next game!

LINE UPS:
Tanjong Pagar United: Aurelien Herisson, Hafiz Osman, Tengku Mushadad, Hanafi Salleh, Nor Azli Yusoff, Sazali Salleh, Asraf Rashid, Firdaus Idros, Ruzaini Zainal (Lucas Jester 88’), Sebastien Etiemble, Monsef Zerka
Substitutes: Chua Lye Heng, Shafiq Noh, M Arvin, Ng Zhi Yi, Afiq Tan, Lucas Jester, Firdaus Ali

Woodlands Wellington: Yazid Yasin, Rosman Sulaiman, Walid Lounis, Milos Jevtic, Atsushi Shimono, Taufiq Ghani, Shafuan Sutohmoh, Andy Ahmad, Patrick Paran, Goh Swee Swee, Chang Jo Yoon
Substitutes: Ahmadulhaq Che Omar, Bah Mamadou, Moon Soonho, Fadhil Noh, Farouq Farkhan, Sobrie Mazelan, Zulkarnain Malik

Referee: Muhd Taqi
Asst Referee 1: Muhd Syarqawi
Asst Referee 2: Daniel Wong
Fourth Official: W Ravisanthiran