Jaguars claw back to 'enjoy moment'

Nobody can accuse this Tanjong Pagar United team of not having the stomach for a fight.

And the Jaguars showcased their grit in spades as they beat Balestier Khalsa 5-3 at the Toa Payoh Stadium yesterday to maintain their position as surprise Singapore Premier League (SPL) leaders after three rounds.

On a rain-soaked evening, Tanjong Pagar raced into a 2-0 lead but then trailed 3-2 at half-time, before blowing their opponents away with three second-half goals.

Wearing a broad grin after the game, Jaguars coach Hasrin Jailani said he was proud of his charges and added: "On us being top of the table, I've told the boys to just enjoy the moment.

"Some people out there are saying it's down to pure luck we are top, but we don't care. To me, it is the result of all the hard work the players are showing."

Khairul Amri opened the scoring in the 10th minute after pouncing on an error by Balestier shot-stopper Rudy Khairullah, before Blake Ricciuto doubled their lead eight minutes later.

But Balestier's trio of Japanese attackers dragged them back into the game with three goals in nine minutes. Kuraba Kondo fired home a low shot in the 23rd minute, before headers, first from Ryoya Taniguchi in the 27th minute and then Shuhei Hoshino five minutes later swung the contest at half-time.

The turnaround might have left many teams crestfallen but Hasrin, a battling central midfielder for the Lions in his playing days, and team manager Noh Alam Shah, infamously never short of passion as a player, have built a team in their image and the Jaguars emerged from the break full of fire.

It took them just five minutes to pull level when Croatian midfielder Mirko Sugic opened his account for the club with an acrobatic effort that bulged the net. The in-form Sugic then grabbed his second nine minutes later, sweeping home after a melee at a corner kick. Reo Nishiguchi added the exclamation point with a long-range strike eight minutes before the end that zipped under Rudy's despairing dive.

Asked if he or Alam Shah delivered a hairdryer treatment at half-time to the players for blowing their cushion, Hasrin said: "There was a little bit of a hairdryer from Along (Alam Shah's nickname), but it was just to wake the boys up. We believe in the team and know what they can do."

Tigers coach Akbar Nawas, five months into his appointment, made no excuses.

"When you're trying to create a new playing identity, there will definitely be inconsistencies and that's what we saw today," he said.

"We will go forward with the same approach. We must keep believing and play without fear."

In the evening's other match, Albirex Niigata beat the Young Lions 5-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium, a result which sent the Japanese side up to second in the table.

If Tanjong Pagar's never-say-die attitude is something they can leverage on this season, the eight-goal thriller at Toa Payoh also highlighted Balestier's problems.

The Tigers were lost at sea in the opening 20 minutes, and while they showed flashes of good play and fought back with three goals, their slow start haunted them again when they conceded twice in the first 14 minutes of the second half.

They had also trailed 2-0 at half-time to Tampines Rovers in their 2-2 draw before crumbling to a 6-0 defeat by Albirex.

Akbar's charges have to wake up quicker in games to avoid giving themselves too much to do.