Geylang International 3rd in SPL after beating Tanjong Pagar United 2-1

SINGAPORE – As the countdown began in the Singapore Premier League match between Geylang International and Tanjong Pagar on Oct 18, Eagles coach Noor Ali stood on the sidelines in the final minutes, animatedly gesturing and calling out to his players on the pitch.

Still recovering from surgery for a collapsed lung and rib fracture – suffered during a social game in September – the 50-year-old was supposed to be taking it easy.

While he had held back from celebrating their goal earlier at Our Tampines Hub, Noor could not help himself and wanted to show his support after his side reclaimed the lead in the 85th minute.

Geylang repaid his faith by holding on to secure back-to-back wins in the league, earning three valuable points to move up to third in the table.

Noor said: “You know that Noh Alam Shah’s Tanjong Pagar side will not give up.

“They’ll keep coming and they had a last-minute chance.

“It’s just when the score was at 2-1, we didn’t deserve to lose that game. We were much better in the second half, so I had no choice to keep the momentum going and encouraging them.

“The last few minutes of the game are very important and the boys showed a lot of determination till the end.”

Tanjong Pagar had started the game strongly, pressing high to make it difficult for Geylang to build up play. The Jaguars also had goalkeeper Zaiful Nizam to thank for a series of crucial saves.

After early substitutions from both teams in the first half, the Eagles took the lead in the 43rd minute through centre-back Nikola Ignjatovic.

The Serb rose to head in from a corner, with his effort striking the crossbar before bouncing into the net to open his account for Geylang.

In the second half, Tanjong Pagar introduced Brazilian midfielder Bruno Dybal.

He nearly scored after just three minutes, before levelling proceedings in the 72nd minute with a sublime free kick that found the top left corner.

Ignjatovic had another opportunity eight minutes later, nodding in Vincent Bezecourt’s free kick, but it was ruled offside.

Geylang went ahead again in the 85th minute, when Bezecourt released Ryoya Taniguchi down the left. With plenty of space, the Japanese charged ahead before curling a shot past Zaiful to seal the win for the Eagles.

Noor said: “I was happy when we scored the second goal. The second half we dominated the game much better because I was trying to celebrate but I couldn’t.

“But it was nice to see because we didn’t start that well.

“We tweaked the positions of the players and we started to play the game we wanted to play. Besides the win, the performance from the boys was very nice to watch.”

He was encouraged by the team’s performance, as they adapt to life without last season’s top scorer and Golden Boot winner Tomoyuki Doi, who left for Thailand’s BG Pathum United.

Taniguchi, who also scored in Geylang’s 2-0 win over Hougang United on Sept 19, is determined to step up and has set himself a target of 25 goals and 20 assists this season.

“I’m very happy to score because I always try to score and assist in every game,” said the 26-year-old.

Tanjong Pagar remain seventh in the eight-team league after the loss. Coach Alam Shah acknowledged that there are areas to work on, though he also praised his players.

He said: “We conceded in a set piece which we weren’t supposed to do and, at 1-1, we should’ve controlled the game better.

“Overall they showed resilience at the end and tried their very best but again, I’m not going to settle for that. But it was a good game and the boys did what we wanted to do overall.”

Analysis

As Geylang find their feet without Doi, they have made a positive start to the season with two wins, a draw and a loss. Defensively, they also seem to have tightened up. While they were the highest-scoring team with 97 goals last season, they also conceded 64.

Tanjong Pagar, on the other hand, will be hoping to lift themselves from the bottom half of the table. Promising moments were mixed with lapses in concentration and discipline, which ultimately saw them lose the game.