GEYLANG INTERNATIONAL 3
Riduan Muhammad 80′, Leonel Felice 85′, 90′
HOUGANG UNITED 2
Geison Moura 17′, Fairoz Hasan 69′
After leading 2-0 for 80 minutes, a quick three goals salvo by the Geylang Eagles brought despair to the Cheetahs as they lost for only the second time this season.
After defeating last season’s champions, Tampines Rovers, on the previous weekend, the Cheetahs had entered this game as the favourites. Geison Moura started the proceedings when he tapped in from closed range on the 17th minute. They almost doubled the advantage five minutes later, when Erwan Gunawan evaded his marker and headed in a cross from Geison Moura, but the header went above the crossbar.
However, the Cheetahs found themselves down to ten men when the referee sent off Azhar Sairudin on the 25th minute, after he was adjudged to punch Geylang’s Joaquin Lopez in the face following an altercation between the two players.
That did not dampen the Cheetahs’ mood as they went on in search for a second goal. They succeeded on the 69th minute when substitute Fairoz Hasan increased the Cheetahs’ lead to a two goal cushion. An exchange between Fairoz and Geison had confused the Eagles’ defence, leading to Fairoz delicately lobbing the ball above Joey Sim and into goal, much to the delight of the Hougang Hools’ on the stands.
Geison almost increased the lead three minutes later after he found himself on a one-on-one situation with Joey Sim but his shot went agonizingly wide.
The two-goal deficit were reduced into one on 80 minutes, after a weak clearance from the Cheetahs’ defence went straight to an unmarked Ridhuan Muhammad. His shot went past Nazri Sabri after a deflection from Igor Cerina.
Then, to the horror to the Hougang faithfuls, a defensive mix-up between Nazri Sabri and Igor Cerina handed an opportunity for Leonel Felice to slot the ball home with an open goal on the 85th minute.
The unlikely comeback was completed for the Eagles when Leonel Felice headed home the winner on virtually the last kick of the game, sending the home fans into delirium.
HOUGANG UNITED
Nazri Sabri, Durica Zuparic, Igor Cerina (c), Wahyudi Wahid, Faizal Amir, Azhar Sairudin (sent off 25′), Shunsuke Nakatake, Erwan Gunawan (Fairoz Hasan 57′), Fazli Jaffar (Nurhilmi Jasni 81′), Geison Moura, Diego Gama (Firman Hanif 46′)
GEYLANG INTERNATIONAL
Joey Sim, Yuki Ichikawa, Kento Fukuda, Hamqaamal Shah (Aliff Shafiein 46′), Joaquin Lopez, Franco Chivilo, Fabian Kwok, Ridhuan Muhammad (c), Hafiz Nor (Jalal 88′), Mustaqim Manzur, Leo Felice.
