SINGAPORE – About three weeks ago, Hougang United fell 2-1 to the Young Lions after leading 1-0 at half-time at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

It was a case of deja vu on Thursday night when Hougang again relinquished a lead at the break to lose 2-1 to Tanjong Pagar United at the same venue in the Singapore Premier League.

Defeat for Hougang meant they have now lost five consecutive matches and are languishing in eighth spot with a solitary win from six games. They remain ahead of bottom-dwellers Young Lions on goal difference.

Hougang have also failed to beat Tanjong Pagar, who moved up to fifth, in their last eight league meetings, a drought that dates back to November 2020 when the Cheetahs won 3-2.

Before kick off, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of Singapore Khalsa Association player Karthik Raj, who died on Wednesday night.

Speaking before the match, Hougang coach Firdaus Kassim bemoaned his team’s vulnerability on transitions. Yet it was a counter-attack which allowed the hosts to take the lead just before the break.

Brian Ferreira, who has had a quiet start in the SPL, found his rhythm by picking up a loose ball and skipped past a desperate lunge from Tanjong Pagar’s Mirko Sugic.

The 28-year-old Argentinian midfielder then played a crisp through ball into Hazzuwan Halim’s path and the latter clinically dispatched the one-on-one chance with a neat left-footed dink over goalkeeper Kenji Rusydi three minutes before half time.

This came after a tepid start to proceedings, where Hougang struggled to find their tempo and resorted to hopeful cross-field long balls that were easily thwarted by the away side.

While Hougang gradually settled into the game towards the half-hour mark, they struggled to break down a rigid Tanjong Pagar defensive block and had to rely on a counter-attack to break the deadlock through Hazzuwan.

Things were smooth sailing for Hougang up till the hour mark, but left-back Irwan Shah was then penalised for a handball in the box that was initially missed by referee Muhammad Taqi.

A video assistant referee check handed the Jaguars a penalty and forward Marin Mudrazija made no mistake from the spot to level the score in the 65th minute.

Buoyed by the equaliser, the away side took the lead 10 minutes later when substitute Khairul Amri, the oldest outfield player this season at 38 years and 22 days, fired a spectacular scissor kick past a stranded Zaiful Nizam.

Hougang substitute Sahil Suhaimi had two half-chances to spare his team’s blushes late in the game but Tanjong Pagar clung on for a hard-fought victory.

While admitting he was disappointed with the result, Firdaus refused to fault his players, adding: “Tanjong Pagar played a back five and had very good organisation. When you get half-chances, you need to make the right decisions, which we did not.

“We had no problems building up, we are creating chances but, maybe, we can improve on the quality of chances created.”

He added that they recognised that Tanjong Pagar “struggled with balls over the top”, something they tried to exploit and sometimes it worked.

“You can say we need more penetrative runs but... against a back five, these kinds of runs may not be relevant. Maybe one thing we can improve on is the number of players arriving in the box. Again, I cannot fault the players because they are trying.”

His Tanjong Pagar counterpart Hasrin Jailani said: “We knew the first half did not go according to plan but, in the second half, we came in strong...

It was important we got the penalty because, if not, we would be chasing them. That goal gave us more confidence to go for the win.”

Analysis

With their fifth league defeat in a row, Hougang’s performance simply did not reflect the calibre of a top-half team.

The Cheetahs have morphed into a possession-centric team under Firdaus but deviated from their usual ground passes to exploit Tanjong Pagar with long balls. While it worked at times, they struggled to control the game.

In the final third, Hougang struggled to get into dangerous attacking positions and their lack of penetration repeatedly caused the ball to be trapped on the flanks.

On the positive side, they looked more organised at set-pieces and defended the transition moments well, two key areas they have struggled in recently.

But with tough fixtures coming up against Lion City Sailors and Tampines Rovers, Firdaus will have a mountain to climb to get Hougang back on track.