Football: Former players haunt Balestier Khalsa as Geylang International win 2-0

SINGAPORE - Balestier Khalsa's ex-players Sime Zuzul, Hazzuwan Halim and Zaiful Nizam returned to their old stomping ground Toa Payoh Stadium to help Geylang International beat their former team 2-0 on Saturday (July 2).

This meant the Eagles' revival continues with a second win in a row - the first time this season they have managed to win back-to-back games - as they leapfrogged the Tigers on goal difference into sixth position in the eight-team Singapore Premier League (SPL) table.

Both teams have 13 points from 14 games, and so do Hougang United, who also have two games in hand and are fifth on goals scored.

Geylang coach Noor Ali said: "It is good to see us getting results that match our performances now.

"The pitch condition here doesn't allow us to play on the ground as we want, so for a start we aimed to cut off service to Balestier's Japanese attackers, and hit on the counter-attack. I'm proud of how our boys executed our game plan.

"They have shown great character and attitude throughout, working hard regardless of the result. I hope the wins build our confidence and it's our turn to get lucky now. There is still a lot of football to be played, and we want to finish in the top half."

It was a war of attrition in the first half as Balestier and Geylang cancelled out each other with similar direct approaches.

The hosts had an early penalty shout waved away by referee Clarence Leow after Kuraba Kondo went down after bursting past Ilhan Noor, before Zuzul shot straight at Hairul Syirhan from a tight angle in the 31st minute.

But the most memorable event in the first period was when Noor was engaged with a protracted debate with fourth official Jansen Foo following an incident on the touchline near half-time. Both parties eventually reconciled with a fist bump.

Noor was in an even better mood when his team made the breakthrough shortly after the break.

Madhu Mohana handled Takahiro Tezuka's free-kick inside the penalty area and Zuzul, who scored 30 goals in 42 games for Balestier from 2019 to 2021, scored from the spot three minutes after the restart for his sixth of the season.

Geylang goalkeeper Zaiful, who played more than 200 games for Balestier from 2013 to 2021 before he was fired by the Tigers for refusing to play against Young Lions, then produced several good stops to deny Shuhei Hoshino.

It was left to Hazzuwan, who spent seven seasons at Toa Payoh and was named 2014 Young Player of the Year with Balestier, to cap an evening of misery against his former club as he latched on to a delightful through ball by Umar Akhbar to fire past Hairul in the 77th minute.

The 28-year-old said: "I'm happy to see old friends but work is work, and the important thing for me is Geylang get the three points.

"We have the quality in our team, and even when we went 11 games without a win, we played well and results didn't go our way. We remained patient, and hopefully we can build on these two wins."

On their day, Geylang are capable of playing good combination football, although they did not always manage to translate this into wins. Today, they set out to win on a bumpy pitch, kept things straightforward and got the job done.

Without being able to marry both just yet, Noor now has to think if he prefers effective football to beautiful football to help the Eagles move higher up the table.

This is Balestier's sixth defeat in seven matches. They need to work on being more aggressive and clinical if they are to avoid finishing in the bottom two again.