HOUGANG UNITED 1
Fairoz Hasan 87′
WARRIORS FC 2
Marin Vidosevic 21′, Mislav Karoglan 72 pen’
Cheetahs fell yet into another home defeat – at the hands of the Warriors on Thursday night.
The Cheetahs began life without Johana Johari, with joint coaches Nahar Daud and Amin Nasir managing the team onwards. Hougang were playing without the suspended Mamadou Diallo and captain Lau Meng Meng. Syaqir Sulaiman was also left out, and in his place Shahir Hamzah took the centrehalf partnership with Igor Cerina, with Hasree Zais replacing Faizal Amir at the right back slot.
It took 21 minutes for both teams to register their chances, and it was the Warriors who capitalize on the Cheetahs’ defence hesitancy. Marin Vidosevic converted a bicycle kick that spectacularly went past Fadhil Salim to give Warriors the lead.
Three minutes later, Fazli Jaffar almost converted the goal of his career, when an excelent passing exchange from Nurhilmi Jasni and Jerome Baker, crossed into his path, and the winger executed a first time volley that was spectacularly saved by Hassan Sunny.
Minutes later, a Jerome Baker volley ensued a goal mouth scramble in front of the Warriors goal, however, referee Low Thiam Hoe decided to blow his whistle for an infringement.
Hougang came back from the break looking to put one over their former coach Alex Weaver, and they had particularly good chances to score, with Jerome Baker and Liam Shotton having their opportunities not converted properly.
Tatsuro Inui also had an opportunity wasted, when sent clear by Erwan Gunawan on 61 minutes. The Japanese midfielder shot the ball high with the goalmouth gaping open.
However, a moment of controversy ensued on 71 minutes, when referee Low Thiam Hoe pointed to the penalty spot, when he adjudged Fazly Hasan to brought down Erwan Gunawan. However, the linesman had flagged for offside as Erwan was offside, and the foul was clearly outside the penalty line. Nevertheless, Mislav Karoglan converted the penalty successfully to give the Warriors a two goal lead.
Hougang then put the ball at the back of the net six minutes later, however, the linesman flagged for offside for Fazli Jaffar, who deflected the ball into the net from a Liam Shotton goalbound shot.
However, the Cheetahs had their consolation goal, with 1000-odd Hougang crowd broke into cheers of joy. Substitute Fairoz Hasan had three balls rebounded to him via Marin Vidosevic and Daniel Bennett, before his third opportunity managed to skimmed off Vidosevic’s knee and flew past Hassan Sunny for the goal.
The Cheetahs had breathe life back into their game with minutes remaining, but it was proved too little too late as Alex Weaver and his Warriors’ charges brought all three points back to Choa Chu Kang.
HOUGANG UNITED
Fadhil Salim, Igor Cerina, Shahir Hamzah, Fazly Hasan, Hasree Zais, Thomas Beattie, Azhar Sairudin (Syaqir Sulaiman 79′), Fazli Jaffar, Nurhilmi Jasni, Jerome Baker (Sobrie Mazelan 70′), Liam Shotton (Fairoz Hasan 80′)
WARRIORS FC
Hassan Sunny, Daniel Bennett, Marin Vidosevic, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Jeremy Chiang, Kazayuki Toda, Shimpei Sakurada (Hafsyar Farkhan 73′), Tatsuro Inui, Matthew Abraham (Shi Jiayi 63′), Erwan Gunawan (Abdil Qayyim 84′), Mislav Karoglan
