SINGAPORE, 8 MAY 2025 – The Lion City Sailors are one win away from securing the 2024/25 Singapore Premier League title – this after nearest challengers BG Tampines Rovers suffered a shock defeat to Balestier Khalsa. Meanwhile Tanjong Pagar United are all but consigned to finishing bottom after a draw with Young Lions. We recap all the action here…
Spoils shared
Tanjong Pagar 1-1 Young Lions | Jurong East | 7 May
Salif Cissé 45+2’ | Raihan Rahman O.G. 83
Cissé fired home a sizzling free-kick in off the bar to give Tanjong Pagar the lead, but they were eventually pegged back when Danish Haqimi’s cross forced Raihan Rahman to clear into his own net.
Facts
- Tanjong Pagar are now winless in their last seven league matches.
- Young Lions are set to avoid a bottom-placed finish for the first time since 2020.
Tanjong Pagar: Matthew Silva (GK), Shahrin Saberin (C) (Thorsten Takashi Cross 42’), Timur Talipov, Faizal Roslan, Zenivio Mota, Azim Akbar (Sahil Suhaimi 59’), Raihan Rahman, Marcus Mosses (Rezza Rezky 46’), Tomoki Wada (Fathullah Rahmat 78’), Salif Cissé, Izrafil Yusof (Syahadat Masnawi 42’).
Unused subs: Riki Kimura (GK), Naufal Ilham, Umar Akhbar, Hariysh Krishnakumar.
Young Lions: Rauf Erwan (GK), Danial Crichton (Ryan Vishal 46’), Jun Kobayashi, Ikram Mikhail, Syafi Nur Hilman (Danish Haqimi 70’), Kan Kobayashi (C), Kaisei Ogawa, Andrew Aw, Ethan Pinto (Nyqil Iyyan 90’+5), Ryu Hardy (Bill Mamadou 70’), Rasul Ramli.
Unused subs: Firman Nabil (GK), Wong Ngang Haang, Izz Anaqi, Ikmal Hazlan.
Stags see title hopes fade
BG Tampines 0-1 Balestier | Jalan Besar | 7 May
Kodai Tanaka 11′
Tanaka opened the scoring early on through a fine header off Masahiro Sugita’s cross, before the Tigers held on bravely despite Sugita’s second-half red card to sink BG Tampines’ fading title hopes.
Facts
- Balestier are the only teams along with the Lion City Sailors that have kept a clean sheet against BG Tampines in the league this season.
- Balestier are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions, including a three-match winning streak in the SPL.
- Balestier kept back-to-back SPL clean sheets for the first time since April 2021.
BG Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK) (C), Amirul Adli (Arya Igami Tarhani 76’), Shuya Yamashita, Dylan Fox, Miloš Zlatković, Shah Shahiran, Kyoga Nakamura. Glenn Kweh (Joel Chew 46’), Faris Ramli (Yasir Hanapi 90’), Itsuki Enomoto, Seia Kunori.
Unused subs: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Ong Yu En, Amirul Haikal, Irfan Najeeb, Kegan Phang.
Balestier: Hafiz Ahmad (GK), Fudhil I’yadh (Abdil Qaiyyim 90’), Madhu Mohana, Cher Garang, Harith Kanadi, Alen Kozar (C), Darren Teh (Ignatius Ang 84’), Riku Fukashiro, Masahiro Sugita, Anton Fase, Kodai Tanaka.
Unused subs: Martyn Mun (GK), Emmeric Ong, Elijah Lim, Amiruldin Asraf, Syukri Noorhaizam, N Sakthivelchezhian, Tariq Shahid.
Red Card – Masahiro Sugita (Balestier) 58’
