By Song Sung Hai

Previous Result
TPUFC 1-2 HGUFC

Tonight, the Jaguars travel to Hougang Stadium to face a tough Cheetahs side who currently sit at 6th place in the top half of the table. Our previous meeting with them at home earlier this season saw them coming back to win 2-1 in a game which the Jaguars dominated.

Although the injury-hit Jaguars lost our last game, we were neither outplayed nor outmatched against a scrappy Harimau Muda side and it took bad refereeing calls against the Jaguars which helped the opponents turn things around.

Captain Ahmad Latiff finally played last week after being out with an injury and anchored the central defence solidly though he will need more matches to shake off the rust. The consistently stout Tengku Mushadad is quite likely to partner him in centreback as well, supported on the sides by Hafiz Osman and Ruzaini Zainal.

Up front, the Jaguars do have a line-up that can threaten on their day. Asraf Rashid and Firdaus Idros rule the flanks and in the centre lurks Kamel Ramdani, Sebastien Etiemble and Monsef Zerka. The Jaguars may have only scored 11 goals so far but the general feeling is that it is a matter of time before the Jaguars rediscover our tenacity in front of goal.

Players missing tonight due to injury are Anthony Aymard, Hanafi Salleh, Sazali Salleh, Masrezwan Masturi, Nor Azli Yusoff and Zahid Ahmad.

The Cheetahs lost their previous home game to Courts Young Lions and will be eager to correct that with a win tonight. Their attacking play mostly involves sending the ball to Geison Moura and Diego Gama up front but it has been working for them and indeed, it was these two who helped defeat us previously. They will most certainly need to be watched.

Jaguars Head Coach Patrick Vallee has often found his side on the lesser end of things but he can always count on the fighting spirit of his lads and that is one factor that will decide tonight’s outcome in the struggle over at Hougang Stadium.

See you there!