By Song Sung Hai

In a game where even the ones loyal to the cause will find it hard to expect much from, the Jaguars defied being swept away by the tides of certainty as the lads put on a gutsy fight and in the process denied the Stags from moving up to top spot in the league with a 1-0 victory.

The Jaguars had come into the game under an ominous cloud of uncertainty with Monsef Zerka, Kamel Ramdani and Hafiz Osman unavailable due to suspension. Furthermore, the Jaguars also had to contend with a psychological superiority that the Stags enjoyed over us, having beaten us twice in a row in the Singapore Cup. Additionally, the game was at Clementi Stadium, proud home of the Stags, where the Jaguars lost last year.

Tampines Rovers FC looked every bit the intimidating part that they were supposed to be and began the game with the swagger that a defending champion was bound to have. With the knowledge that the Jaguars were missing three mainstays in the team, surely three points and moving up past DPMM FC were to be the obvious booty from the encounter. Against an opponent they have not lost to this year, a bloodied plunder was the obvious conclusion.

How the tides turned though on the night, as sheer grit and stubborn willpower surged through the Jaguars in the face of oncoming doom, lending the squad strength they forgot they had. The mighty Stags were stopped in their tracks and the swagger disappeared. It was not natural for prey to play predator and the order of nature was restored. The Jaguars stalked the Stags and with speed and guile, power and precision.

As Anthony Aymard headed over the bar in the 10th minute from an Asraf Rashid corner kick, the fans in the stands knew that they would be in for a spectacle. Hanafi Salleh was elected to fill in the suspended Hafiz Osman’s role at centreback and his performance befitted that of a jungle cat.

Alert, steady and never shy of pouncing on anyone who trespassed his territory, Hanafi Salleh was a constant menace on the field. A shot by Tengku Mushadad in the 30th minute from an impossible angle deflected off the post and towards Hanafi Salleh who was providing support in attack. His return shot almost beat Justin Pasfield but the Stags custodian got his knee to it.

Aurelien Herisson was also again at the top of his game. His judgement was immaculate on the night. An inspired performance by his defence helped make his job easier as well. Anthony Aymard put up another reliable performance, intercepting with precise timing and read the Stags’ strategy well, in the same manner that a linguistic professor deciphering a nursery rhyme in his native tongue would.

Nor Azli Yusoff and Zahid Ahmad on the defensive flanks were jagged rocks to tread. Stinging and hard, the Stag’s offensive wings soon went bereft of ideas and moves, and play was often mired in the middle, where the rabid maestro Sazali Salleh and the tank, Tengku Mushadad, ruled.

Jacob Butler and Shahdan Sulaiman tried their best to play football, but in the middle against the Sazali and Tengku, playing was impossible. Their usual footballing creativity was instead used to survive and finish the game unscathed. Such was the dominance the partnership of Sazali Salleh and Tengku Mushadad commanded that night.

Sazali Salleh almost got his name onto the scoresheet himself when after intercepting a poor clearance from the Stags, he let fly a murderous missile from 30 yards that streaked past Pasfield but not the crossbar, which the ball hit twice on the way to safety. Though the ball did appear to have crossed the line after the intial crossbar kiss, it really rather was a moot point given that the Jaguars still triumphed in the end. What a shot that was though!

Upfront, Sebastien Etiemble dug into his reserves and found extra muscles and speed. He knew he was needed and he was present. Set free in the final play of the first half by Tengku Mushadad, who had won probably his hundredth fifty-fifty challenge of the night, Sebastien Etiemble found no trouble in drilling the ball past Justin Pasfield to score at the most horrible moment that a team could concede a goal.

Captain Ahmad Latiff was a constant thorn upfront, relishing his natural position and possibly rediscovering his youth in doing so. He was the first point of defence for the team, harassing and chasing down defenders, much like a Jaguar discovering a ball of mountain-grown ginseng catnip rolling around the plains.

Asraf Rashid and Firdaus Idros will not be the two tallest players on the pitch in a rush but their determination and heart towered over their opponents. They were constant threats with their speed and were also instrumental in destroying the offensive flanks of the Stags.

Head Coach Patrick Vallée pumped his fist in a rare display of wanton joy at the final whistle and it was understandable. His lads had ruled and it came by no means of serendipity. The victory was hard fought and the payout was sweet.

He said, “I am happy with the efforts of my players. Our desire was better than Tampines and tonight we paid no attention to who is in the top six and who is not.”

Patrick was especially heartened that the lads coped well n the absence of key players citing that “my players were without Kamel and Monsef and Hafiz and it was not easy but they won.”

“I am sure my team is a good team and my team showed their standard tonight. At the end of the day, the win is very good for the team,” Patrick continued. “My target to the players as we are nearing the end of the season is for them to keep going even if we cannot finish in the top six. We must always show our standard.”

With this win, the Jaguars have now moved up ninth place and two points behind Geylang International whom we will meet next week in what will also promise to be a real thriller.

Till next time!

Lineups:

Tampines Rovers: Justin Pasfield, Abdil Qayyim, Anaz Hadee, Ismadi Mukhtar, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Ang Zhi Wei, Shahdan Sulaiman, Miljan Mrdakovic, Jacob Butler,Jufri Taha , Jozef Kaplan
Substitutes: Kunihiro Yamashita, Shaiful Esah, Aleksander Duric, Ridhuan Barudin, Matthew Abraham, Noh Alam Shah
Head Coach:Rafi Ali
Cautions: Josef Kaplan (29′), Mustafic Fahrudin (50′)

Tanjong Pagar United: Aurelien Herisson, Anthony Aymard, Hanafi Salleh, Nor Azli Yusoff, Zahid Ahmad, Asraf Rashid (Ruzaini Zainal 90′), Ahmad Latiff(C), Sazali Salleh, Tengku Mushadad, Sebastien Etiemble, Firdaus Idros,
Substitutes: Shamsudin Salleh, Ruzaini Zainal, Shafiq Noh, Justin Khiang, K Selvendhran, Marcus Wheeler, Nicholas Cher
Head Coach:Patrick Vallee
Cautions: Nor Azli Yusoff (44′), Ahmad Latiff (55′)

Referee: Farhad Mohd
Asst Ref 1: Jeffrey Goh
Asst Ref 2: Victor Teo
Fourth Official: Daniel Wong