Lion City Sailors’ Lennart Thy celebrates his goal against Hougang United, 19 October 2024
SINGAPORE, 21 OCTOBER 2024 – The 2024/25 Singapore Premier League (SPL) title race took another twist as the Lion City Sailors capitalised on BG Tampines Rovers’ slip-up against defending champions Albirex Niigata (S) to go six points clear at the top following a comeback win over Hougang United. Elsewhere, third-placed Geylang International closed the gap between them and the Stags to two points after a demolition of Balestier Khalsa, while Young Lions picked up a shock victory away against Brunei DPMM. We recap all the action here…
Young Lions continue to roar
DPMM 0-3 Young Lions | Bandar Seri Begawan | 18 October
Itsuki Enomoto 57’, 69’, Fairuz Fazli 65’
A brilliant individual display by Enomoto saw him open the scoring with a superb low finish before he teed up super-sub Fairuz, who netted a thumping finish with his first touch of the game. The latter then returned the favour with a brilliant cross for Enomoto to head home his second and seal a stunning victory away in Brunei.
Facts
- DPMM suffered their first defeat at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium this season.
- Young Lions picked up their first clean sheet in five years – their last shutout prior to this was on 18 September 2019 in a 3-0 win over Home United.
- Enomoto has now scored 13 goals in 17 SPL appearances this season.
DPMM: Haimie Nyaring (GK), Nazry Aiman (Abdul Mu’iz Sisa 82’), Hanif Hamir, Nurikhwan Othman, Najib Tarif, Abdul Hariz Herman (Naziruddin Ismail 69’), Farshad Noor (C), Gabriel Gama, Hakeme Yazid (Azwan Saleh 82’), Julio Cruz, Miguel Oliveira.
Unused subs: Ishyra Asmin (GK), Syafiq Safiuddin, Hanif Farhan, Faturrahman Embran, Haziq Naqiuddin, Yura Indera Putera.
Young Lions: Aizil Yazid (GK), Raoul Suhaimi (Andrew Aw 90’+2), Jun Kobayashi, Ryaan Sanizal (C), Nur Adam Abdullah, Kan Kobayashi, Kaisei Ogawa, Farhan Zulkifli, Danish Qayyum (Fairuz Fazli 65’), Jonan Tan (Ikram Mikhail 79’), Itsuki Enomoto.
Unused subs: Rauf Erwan (GK), Aqil Yazid, Syafi Nur Hilman, Amir Syafiz, Ethan Pinto, Khairin Nadim.
Shuhei Hoshino of Albirex Niigata (S) tussles with BG Tampines Rovers’ Shah Shahiran, 19 October 2024
White Swans on a roll
BG Tampines 2-3 Albirex | Jalan Besar | 19 October
Kyoga Nakamura 55′, Faris Ramli 61′ | Yohei Otake 12′, Shingo Nakano 45+2′, Daniel Goh 85′
Albirex took a surprise 2-0 lead into half time with Otake rifling them ahead before Nakano applied the finishing touch to a brilliant counter-attacking move. BG Tampines rallied, with Nakamura pulling one back from the edge of the box before Faris connected with Boris Kopitović’s low cross to restore parity. However, the White Swans stole the victory late on with Goh firing home a sizzling victory to send the away fans wild.
Facts
- BG Tampines are winless in their last six SPL matches, with two draws and four losses.
- Albirex picked up three straight victories for the first time this season.
- Faris has now scored in each of his last three appearances in all competitions.
BG Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK) (C), Shuya Yamashita, Amirul Adli (Glenn Kweh 46’), Miloš Zlatković, Jared Gallagher, Shah Shahiran, Joel Chew (Yasir Hanapi 71’), Saifullah Akbar (Kyoga Nakamura 46’), Faris Ramli, Seia Kunori (Irfan Najeeb 81’), Boris Kopitović.
Unused subs: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Sunny Tia (GK), Thitipat Ekarunpong, Kegan Phang.
Albirex: Hassan Sunny (GK), Ryhan Stewart, Koki Kawachi, Stevia Egbus Mikuni, Junki Yoshimura, Yojiro Takahagi, Yohei Otake, Arshad Shamim (Gareth Low 79’), Haziq Kamarudin (Daniel Goh 63’), Shuhei Hoshino, Shingo Nakano.
Unused subs: Dylan Pereira (GK), Zainol Gulam (GK), Syukri Bashir, Ho Wai Loon, Daniel Martens, Kenji Austin.
Lion City Sailors’ Maxime Lestienne gets past Hougang United’s Danish Irfan, 19 October 2024
Comeback victory for Sailors
Sailors 3-1 Hougang | Bishan | 19 October
Song Ui-young 17’, Lennart Thy 19′, 68′ | Dejan Račić 6’
Hougang took a shock lead with Račić bundling in Shodai Yokoyama’s pass from close range, but the Sailors quickly turned it around with Song popping up at the far post to finish off Maxime Lestienne’s ball before Hafiz Nor squared across goal for Thy to convert. Thy then grabbed another in the second half via Lestienne’s sumptuous low cross to seal victory for the Sailors.
Facts
- The Sailors are unbeaten in their last five SPL matches.
- Two assists in this match meant Lestienne has now chalked up 19 league assists this season.
- Thy has now scored 11 goals in 14 SPL appearances for the Sailors, while Račić has netted 13 in 14 games for Hougang this campaign.
Sailors: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Hafiz Nor (Bill Mamadou 86’), Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datković, Christopher van Huizen, Maxime Lestienne, Hariss Harun (Hami Syahin 60’), Song Uiyoung, Bart Ramselaar (Abdul Rasaq Akeem 86’), Lennart Thy (Shawal Anuar 76’).
Unused subs: Adib Nur Hakim (GK), Zharfan Rohaizad (GK), Sergio Carmona Pérez, Haiqal Pashia, Nathan Mao.
Hougang: Zaiful Nizam (GK), Nazrul Nazari (C), Ensar Brunčević, Faris Hasić, Jordan Vestering, Danish Irfan (Justin Hui 62’), Shahdan Sulaiman, Hazzuwan Halim (Gabriel Quak 80’), Stjepan Plazonja, Shodai Yokoyama (Petar Banović 80’), Dejan Račić.
Unused subs: Kenji Rusydi (GK), Isaac Jonathan (GK), Nazhiim Harman, Zamani Zamri, Tan-Vaissierre Louka, Yasir Nizamudin.
Geylang International’s Takahiro Tezuka in action against Balestier Khalsa, 20 October 2024
Eagles keep soaring
Balestier 1-4 Geylang | Bishan | 20 October
Elijah Lim 74′ | Takahiro Tezuka 14’, Ryoya Taniguchi 52′, Tomoyuki Doi 58′, Zikos Chua 66′
There was no way back for Balestier after Tezuka fired home a long-range piledriver to put Geylang ahead. Taniguchi then doubled the lead with a fierce shot inside Hafiz Ahmad’s near post, before Doi lobbed the Balestier custodian from distance to make it three. Chua then clinically converted Taniguchi’s cross, before Lim pulled one back for the Tigers but it was too little too late for the home side.
Facts
- Geylang won three straight SPL matches for the first time since September 2022.
- Balestier lost three consecutive league matches for the first time since April 2023.
- Doi has now scored in six straight league matches – his tally of 29 goals is almost double of his nearest rivals for the Golden Boot, Balestier’s Tanaka and Albirex’s Nakano who has 15 apiece.
Balestier: Hafiz Ahmad (GK), Darren Teh, Emmeric Ong (Harith Kanadi 53’), Jordan Emaviwe, Tajeli Salamat, Alen Kozar (C), Masahiro Sugita, Elijah Lim (Reycredo Bukit 82’), Ignatius Ang (Amiruldin Asraf 70’), Riku Fukashiro, Kodai Tanaka.
Unused subs: Martyn Mun (GK), Wayne Chew (GK), Fudhil I’yadh, Darren Teo.
Geylang: Rudy Khairullah (GK), Joshua Pereira, Rio Sakuma, Keito Hariya, Shakir Hamzah (C) (Zikos Chua 40’), Takahiro Tezuka, Vincent Bezecourt, Naqiuddin Eunos, Ryoya Taniguchi, Akmal Azman (Hud Ismail 87’), Tomoyuki Doi.
Unused subs: Hairul Syirhan (GK), Faisal Shahril, Syafi Suhaimi, Nur Ikhsanuddin, Kyan Neo, Tariq Shahid.
Geylang International’s Tomoyuki Doi celebrates his goal against Balestier Khalsa, 20 October 2024
