Second-half flurry fires Tampines Rovers to 4-0 win over Tanjong Pagar

SINGAPORE – It took Tampines Rovers over an hour to break down a resolute Tanjong Pagar United defence but a second-half onslaught condemned the Jaguars to a 4-0 defeat at the Jurong East Stadium on Oct 11.

Hide Higashikawa, Yuma Kimura, Seiga Sumi and Faris Ramli gave the Stags a second win in their opening two games and lifted them to second in the Singapore Premier League.

They are level with FC Jurong on six points, three behind leaders Geylang International, but have a game in hand.

The Jaguars, meanwhile, dropped to fifth with three points from three games, a spot below defending champions Lion City Sailors, who hammered the Young Lions 6-1 in another match.

Stags coach Nazri Nasir shared that he had to make several changes to keep his squad fresh after their midweek 2-2 draw with Malaysia’s Kuching City in the ASEAN Club Championship on Oct 7.

The 55-year-old said: “We expected the game to be very tough, all the teams are improving and getting better, but we kept our composure, and didn’t rush things.

“I made some changes because players were getting lethargic, especially (wingers) Kenshin (Yamazaki) and Naberu (Furusawa) who played in the ASEAN Club Championship.

“I’m very happy to see Yuma and Faris coming in and taking their chances and now they have made my life difficult because my players are all ready to come in – it is all about the rotation of our players because we are in three or four major tournaments and (we need) to manage their load.”

Nazri made six changes to their line-up that started in Sarawak on Oct 7, as the Stags dominated possession but lacked the cutting edge in the first half hour.

The Stags had to thank their lucky stars for not conceding against the Jaguars, with former Tampines hotshot Boris Kopitovic coming close twice.

The Montenegrin, Tampines’ record scorer with 110 goals in 138 appearances, fluffed a gilt-edged chance in the 32nd minute when he fired wide from just 2m out following good work by Riku Fukashiro.

Kopitovic had a chance to redeem himself seven minutes later when he was found by Taufik Suparno, but his low shot was parried by goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari.

A stunned Tampines responded through Koya Kazama, who curled a free kick onto the crossbar with Jaguars goalkeeper Aitor Mujica rooted in 42nd minute.

The Stags upped the tempo in the second half and broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute when Shah Shahiran’s cross found Higashikawa, and the Japanese striker headed home at the back post.

Shah got another assist four minutes from time when substitute Kimura tapped his cross into the empty net.

Shah, who was rested in the match on Oct 7, said: “We have to give credit to Tanjong Pagar for being disciplined at the back, and it was very hard for us to penetrate them.

“But we trusted our football, and continued that in the second half when fatigue came in and that’s why we got the goals.”

Sumi added a third in the 89th minute when he rifled his shot into the roof of the net after Irfan Najeeb fed his run, before substitute Faris added the icing on the cake four minutes into added time.

Jaguars coach Miquel Llado, who was left to rue the missed chances, said: “The first half of the game was what we wanted right from the beginning.

“We wanted to stay low and didn’t want them to find options and we had the two best chances of the first half.

“The game was competitive until their quality showed, and we need to try to end the game a little better, but a good lesson for us.”

At the Jalan Besar Stadium, the Young Lions had taken a shock lead through Toi Kagami in the 10th minute but the Sailors responded in emphatic fashion through Bart Ramselaar (14th minute), Hugo Gomes (37th), Bailey Wright (51st), Ilhan Fandi (70th) and Matthias Phaeton (74th and 83rd).

Analysis

Despite their dominance in possession in the first half, the much-changed Stags lacked creativity up front and struggled to create meaningful chances. But timely substitutions injected energy into the side and eventually broke down a resolute Jaguars defence.

Tanjong Pagar will need to polish up their finishing to boost their hopes of challenging for honours.