A Warriors victory, after what it seemed like they have not won for quite some time. I believe it will be a start for them to regain composure and pick up many points along the way.
Like most of the Warriors' game, it was Croatian forward, Mislav Karoglan who drew first blood. This time, he did it within 6 minutes. From a Erwan Gunawan's lifted through ball over the Eagle's defense, Kari showed his class by controlling the ball in the box and calmly finished it pass Yazid Yasin.
It surprised me to see coach Mike Wong starting Korean import Jung Hee Bong as a central defender while starting another Korean, Joo Ki Hwan as a forward. Bong was signed as a forward while Joo was signed as a defender. However, playing in unfamiliar positions, I have to say both did well although both had a shaky start, like when Bong allowed Kari the time and space to control and shoot the ball.
Much of the first half was not entertaining. Most of SAF's attacks came from Erwan Gunawan, Ivan Jerkovic and Mislav Karoglan. Erwan Gunawan was a class above the other local players which included the likes of Masrezwan Masturi and Fazrul Nawaz, whom both had don the national colours. His skills were silky and lethal to a extend that many fouls were committed on him.
Geylang, on the other hand, were playing diagonal balls through their central midfield duo, Shah Hirul and Vasile Ghindaru. The pace of wing men Kim Jae Hong and Hafiz Rahim caused problems to the Warriors' fullbacks, Hafiz Osman in particular, who had often traveled up too often and left a huge space at his right back position.
SAF's second goal came when a long ball was played into the Geylang half and again, the defenders were caught napping. Kari won the ball and Fazrul, using his pace to get past Bong, slotted past Yazid Yasin to make it 2-0.
The second half started like the first. Shah Hirul's diagonal ball found Masrezwan Masturi who knocked the ball to the path of Joo Ki Hwan. Unmarked, Joo graciously accepted the offer and volley the ball home.
However, SAF from the restart, came straight to attack. And within a minute, they were 3-1 up. Kari was at the end of a mis-shot by Fazrul and beat Yazid at the near post. Yet again, poor defending from Geylang.
Kari did test Yazid with a few long shots which Yazid had no problems dealing with. Geylang had to play through the flanks as the middle was always obstructed with Bah Mamadou and Daniel Hammond. Both were solid throughout the game.
Overall, it was a good, yet sloppy performance from the Warriors and slack defending from the Eagles. This is what separates both teams.
Sidhi Cafe's MOM: Mislav Karoglan (SAFFC). Its not hard to see why. Kari was at the end of 2 well taken goals and was involved in the other. He was determined throughout the whole game and showed us why he had played in the UEFA Europa Cup.
My MOM: Erwan Gunawan (SAFFC). He was pure class. A genius on the ball. Not much attention was paid to him but he showed me why he deserves a starting place more often. His ability to take on defenders and pass was a delight. Well done Erwan!
Worst player: Everyone did well this game and it was hard for me to pick one for the first time.
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