Bart Ramselaar stars in Lion City Sailors’ 5-1 S’pore Premier League win

SINGAPORE – With the departure of club legend Maxime Lestienne in December 2025, there were fears that the Lion City Sailors would miss the Belgian – who amassed 70 goals and 97 assists in 131 games for the club – in their quest to continue their dominance of Singapore football.

But those concerns have faded as Bart Ramselaar appears to have eased into Lestienne’s big boots, as the midfielder grabbed two goals and two assists to help the Sailors come from behind to beat Hougang United 5-1 in the Singapore Premier League (SPL) at the Bishan Stadium on Jan 24.

Yet the 29-year-old Dutchman, capped three times by the Netherlands, was modest after his Man-of-the-Match performance.

He told The Sunday Times: “I don’t have any numbers I want to hit, but I was thinking before the game that I have to score more. So, if you told me before the game I will get two goals and two assists, I would take it.

“Individual players can shine only when the team performs well, and I don’t want to talk about replacing Max. I have a lot of respect for him and we still call him the king of Singapore football.”

After registering 19 goals and 15 assists in 43 games in his debut season in 2024-25, Ramselaar now has five goals and eight assists in 16 matches.

Ramselaar’s wizardry from the wings was key after the Sailors’ rare concession of a goal, as they extended their perfect start to their SPL campaign to seven wins.

Their hunt for back-to-back titles continues, with fellow unbeaten club BG Tampines Rovers lurking in second place, seven points adrift but with a game in hand.

On a bumpy pitch that used to be the Sailors’ stomping ground – before it was assigned to be shared by Hougang United and Balestier Khalsa – the Cheetahs did well to take the game to their more illustrious opponents.

Pannarai Pansiri’s men got their reward and a surprise lead in the 11th minute, when 1.77m attacker Settawut Wongsai – who started only because new Australian signing Jaushua Sotirio was injured during the warmup – made up for a 7cm deficit on Toni Datkovic to head in Jordan Vestering’s cross.

But that served only to awaken the beast, as the Sailors laid siege on Hougang’s goal, with Vestering having to clear off the line from the irrepressible Ramselaar in the next minute.

It did not take long for the visitors to equalise, as Shawal Anuar stole in behind Nabilai Kibunguchy to connect with Ramselaar’s cross from the left to score in the 19th minute.

Diogo Costa then set up Kyoga Nakamura, whose shot was cleared by the luckless Kibunguchy onto his teammate Ryaan Sanizal for an own goal eight minutes later. With another Ramselaar cross, Lennart Thy sent a glancing header off the bar to double the Sailors’ lead in the 32nd minute.

After the break, Ramselaar sealed victory by thumping in two right-footed efforts from range in the 66th and 72nd minute from loose balls after Hougang failed to clear their lines from corners.

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic said: “I was not pleased about the first 10 minutes. We gave them too much space, and we were too deep behind, which was not necessary.

“The goal woke us and we went into another gear. From then on, when you go in 3-1 at half-time, you know it’s not going to be so difficult. It’s very difficult to play on this pitch, but in the end, I’m happy we at least finished the game in a good way.”

Hougang coach Pannarai saw his team remain sixth out of eight teams with just six points from seven games, but he was heartened by their positive approach.

He said: “We have an attacking attitude and we don’t go back to play boring football and have 10 men in our box. We try to play good football and we showed we can score in every game. We now need to look at our defence structure because if we defend better, we can get more points.”

Analysis

Self-deprecatingly, the Hougang fans chanted on Jan 24: “You are nothing special, we lose every week.”

But it would truly be special if the Sailors can win every week, and with the exception of Tampines, there appears to be no real rivals to beat them – they have won all seven games with 30 goals scored and just three conceded.

With the likes of Ramselaar, Thy and Shawal backed up by new signings such as Luka Adzic, they have too much firepower to overcome defensive blips in the SPL without AFC Champions League distractions.