Lion City Sailors put on five-star showing for third victory in eight days

SINGAPORE – The games are coming thick and fast for the Lion City Sailors, but the buoyant Singapore Premier League (SPL) leaders are showing no signs of slowing down.

On Feb 23 at the Bishan Stadium, the Sailors extended their winning streak in the league to six matches with a 5-1 demolition of 10-man Balestier Khalsa to maintain a six-point lead at the top of the table.

It was their third victory in eight days, after they beat Tanjong Pagar 4-1 in the Singapore Cup group phase on Feb 16 and thrashed Muangthong United 4-0 on Feb 20 to progress 7-2 on aggregate to the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League Two.

Such are the high spirits within the camp that four-goal hero Lennart Thy said there has been no talk of fatigue, despite the fact that the Sailors are fighting on three fronts.

He said: “We’re not thinking about that. Fatigue, I don’t know who’s talking about it, but within the team, it is a non-topic. We have a big squad... we can make changes during the game, give some players a rest... so far, we’re doing good.

“We want to keep this up... we are pushing each other and that’s important.”

The Sailors – champions in 2021 – are gunning for just their second SPL title since becoming the league’s first privatised club in 2020.

Coming into the encounter on the back of the morale-boosting win over Thai side Muangthong, the Sailors could have been forgiven for taking their foot off the pedal against Balestier.

And while they made five changes from three days ago – resting two-goal hero Shawal Anuar, attacking midfielder Bart Ramselaar and captain Hariss Harun – the Sailors were still far superior to their opponents.

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic was pleased with yet another victory.

He said: “That (winning run) gives (us) a lot of boost. By now, we are used to playing in so many matches... in the past, we had a really tough time with this kind of matches after the Champions League. But now we are picking it (points) up.”

It took just three minutes for Thy to open the scoring when he headed in Akram Azman’s cross before Maxime Lestienne doubled the Sailors’ advantage as he finished off a quick counter-attack in the 29th minute.

It got worse for the hosts in the 38th minute when defender Fudhil I’yadh received a red card for pulling Lestienne back when the Belgian was through on goal. 

Thy then got his second goal in first-half stoppage time with a fine half-volley from just outside the box, before bagging his second hat-trick of the SPL season when the German forward finished from close range in the 50th minute.

Thy then bagged his fourth of the evening in the 72nd minute when he got on the end of Abdul Rasaq’s flick to finish with aplomb past Hafiz Ahmad for his 22nd goal of the SPL season.

The Tigers got a consolation at the end when former Sailors forward Kodai Tanaka finished at the far post four minutes from time.

The heavy defeat sees the Tigers remain fifth, three points behind fourth-placed Albirex Niigata.

Balestier coach Peter de Roo lamented his side’s defending during transitions and said: “We expected more from this game and we made it hard for ourselves in the first half. The red card didn’t help as well.

“Against a team that’s this good on the counter, we were made to pay.”

At the Jalan Besar Stadium, BG Tampines Rovers eked out a 1-0 win over Brunei DPMM, thanks to a 61st-minute own goal by Damir Muminovic, to keep the pressure on the Sailors.

The Stags stayed six points behind the leaders but have played a game more, with the top two sides’ clash at the Bishan Stadium on Feb 26 set to take on added significance in the title race.

Analysis

Balestier play an attractive brand of attacking football under de Roo but their insistence on adopting the same approach even against stronger sides like the Sailors looks naive.

The Sailors rotated their pack but were able to create chances at will, and the result could have been uglier, if not for the flurry of saves from Hafiz. The Tigers must be smarter in these encounters if they want to pip Albirex to a top-four finish.