The Lion City Sailors Women delivered another ruthless attacking performance in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) as they swept aside BG Tampines Rovers 12-0 at the Yishun Stadium on Friday (13 February) night.
Back at the venue for the first time since April 2024, the Sailors reached double figures for the third time in four matches this season with a statement result that propelled them to the summit of the WPL standings.
A hat-trick for Eri Kitagawa and braces from Amelia Tan, Farah Nurzahirah, Ami Takeuchi, and Ami Kawase, alongside a solitary Nur Izzati Rosni strike, sealed a memorable night, particularly for teenage forward Amelia, who opened her WPL account just three minutes into the contest.
A graduate of the Sailors Girls Academy, Amelia made her first WPL start at 14 years, four months and four days old, becoming the league’s youngest-ever starter. Just six days on, she has announced herself with her first two senior goals.
Reacting quickest after BG Tampines failed to clear their lines in a scramble involving Takeuchi and Eri, Amelia kept her composure to slot past former Sailors goalkeeper Nurul Haziqah Haszman.
“It felt awesome,” she beamed. “The senior players always guide me. Whenever I make a mistake, they teach me how to correct it and be better. And when I score, they celebrate with me.”
Head Coach Daniel Ong was delighted to see the club’s youth pathway bearing fruit on the big stage.
“It’s definitely exciting to watch them combine and create chances up front, that’s what the Sailors Girls Academy is all about,” said Daniel. “Seeing players progress through the pathway and now contribute to the senior team shows how much hard work they’ve put in.”
Amelia’s early opening goal set the tone for the rest of the evening, with the Sailors’ attacking fluency evident from the outset. And in the ninth minute, neat interplay between Nur Ain Salleh and Takeuchi ended with the latter teeing up Eri, who rifled a superb effort from just outside the box into the top right corner to make it 2-0.
Seven minutes later, Ain and Takeuchi combined again, with Takeuchi squaring unselfishly for Amelia to tap home her second. Farah then added a fourth a minute later with a composed finish.
Amelia nearly completed a hat-trick in the 18th minute, but her effort drifted wide.
“I would’ve loved the hat-trick, but I’m just happy to contribute,” she said. “Even if I don’t score, I want to help by making runs, creating space and delivering good balls.”
Eri grabbed her second in the 20th minute, shrugging off her marker to convert Ain’s driven cross to make it five. This was followed by Takeuchi opening her account on the night in the 28th minute, before Eri completed her hat-trick eight minutes later.
Ami Kawase then rose to the fore with a clinical double to make it 9-0 to the Sailors at the break, as the teenage Japanese took her tally for the season up to five goals.
“We had a lot of good movement today and that contributed to the scoreline,” reflected Amelia. “If someone drops deep, another makes the run in behind. With two strikers, when Ami dropped, I tried to run beyond to create space.”
Daniel added: “We worked all week on attacking patterns from the middle third into the final phase. Today, they showed what they’ve taken on board. There’s always room to improve, but the first half was very pleasing.”
The Sailors maintained their intensity after the restart, though BG Tampines proved more resilient. Nonetheless, the Sailors found the back of the net again in the 57th minute when Farah drove into the box and teed up super-sub Izzati for a first-time volley.
With seven minutes remaining, Takeuchi added another clinical finish to take her season tally up to 12 goals, before Farah capped the night in the 89th minute, latching onto Eri’s pass and firing home to complete the 12-goal rout.
With emphatic victories fast becoming a hallmark of their campaign, the Sailors carry formidable momentum into sterner tests ahead against Geylang International and defending champions Albirex Jurong.
While pleased with how the team has performed so far this season, Daniel believes they will have to continue working hard on improving their fitness in order to go the distance and lift the WPL title.
“As long as the girls continue to play the way we train and show the right attitude, we’re heading in the right direction,” said Daniel. “Fitness is an area we’ll continue to work on as the season progresses.”
