By Song Sung Hai

This season’s past meetings

TPUFC 0-1 WWFC
WWFC 0-2 TPUFC

The half-round stage of the S.League resumes at Queenstown Stadium tonight and the Northern Rams will come visit in a bid to close the three-point gap between them and the Jaguars.

Currently sitting third in the bottom half table, the Jaguars will need to win this game to push themselves further away from Woodlands Wellington FC and get nearer to second placed Geylang International who maintain a 5-point gap.

Although the Jaguars lost at home by a single goal the last time we met Woodlands, the Jaguars managed to avenge that loss with a 2-0 victory over at Woodlands Stadium and look good to continue an unbeaten run of two games so far against a Woodlands side that have not won in the S.League since June.

Sebastien Etiemble will be back from suspension and his presence will reinforce the team, which looked good even with two Prime League players starting in the 3-1 victory against the Young Lions two weeks ago. Kamel Ramdani and Monsef Zerka will threaten if allowed to and they will be ably assisted by reliable local forwards in the form of Firdaus Idros, captain Ahmad Latiff and Asraf Rashid.

While the northern Rams have had a miserable run up to this game, which included a 8-1 disaster over at Bandar Seri Begawan, they have players who can still be dangerous if not paid any heed. Koreans Chang Jo Yoon and Moon Soon Ho will need to be silenced if the Jaguars are to have an easy run to the three points.

Head Coach Patrick Vallée knows this is a good opportunity for his gutsy lads to keep the heat on Geylang and will expect the players to do the necessary as it is still mathematically possible for the Jaguars to finish second in the bottom-half table.

Victory is expected tonight against a determined Woodlands Wellington side who have forgotten the taste of victory and wants to rekindle it, setting up a possibly explosive showdown at Queenstown Stadium.

See you there!