It was a week dominated by “home” sides as five of them saw victory out of six games in week 10 of the Great Eastern Yeo’s S-League which concluded over the weekend. The shock of the week came from Toa Payoh Stadium on Friday evening, with Hamqaamal Shah scoring in the second minute and Ruhaizad Ismail sealing a famous win for the Tigers of Balestier Khalsa in the 59th minute. Both goals were due to some school boy errors committed by Harimau Muda to give Balestier Khalsa a 2-0 win in the “battle of the tigers”. The win propelled Balestier Khalsa to the top of the S-League table, a point clear of second placed Brunei DPMM, who have one game in hand.
Home United proved to be the bogey team of the Bruneians after as Frederic Mendy’s third minute strike was enough to all three points for the Protectors, who have now gone on to inflict first defeats of the season to two teams in succession, Harmimau Muda and then Brunei DPMM.
With the win, Home moved into third spot in the S-League table, and it was also Mendy’s sixth goal of the season. He currently occupies third spot in the scorers’ chart, two adrift of team mate Shotaro Ihata and Tampines Rovers’ marksman, Aleksandar Duric.
Courts Young Lions was the only away team to see victory in week 10, and they certainly claimed their first victory of the season in style. The Singapore Under-23 side demolished Tanjong Pagar United 5-0, with Jonathan Toto – who was apparently left out of the squad in the previous game due to work permit issues – grabbing a brace on his return to his old hunting ground. Hafiz Sujad, Shahfiq Ghani and an own goal by Azhar Ahmad sealed an empathic win for the Cubs. With the win, both teams exchanged positions in the league standings, with Courts Young Lions moving up into 12th place and Tanjong Pagar down to the foot of the table.
There was no late drama from Tampines Rovers at Jurong East Stadium on Thursday as Yasuhiro Yamakoshi’s goal in the 64th minute separated the two sides.
We saw the debut of the “Supergals” at Choa Chu Kang Stadium on Sunday, when SAF hosted Hougang United. The Cheetahs were left to rue their missed chances, as last season’s S-League top scorer Mislav Karoglan scored against the run of play in the 81st minute, to give SAF a morale boosting win after a disappointing season so far. That was SAFFC’s 300th win in their 17 year history participating in the S-League.
In the other game on Sunday, Gombak United put the previous week’s loss to Tampines Rovers behind them as Obadin Aikhena and Julien Durand scored in the 24th and 79th minute respectively to give the Bulls a 2-0 win over Geylang United at Jurong West Stadium.
Five points separate the the top six sides in the League, and with so much at stake, every team will be extra cautious as to not drop too many points in as this new two round format. Will we see changes at the top of the league in week 11? Don’t rule that out. Meanwhile check the S-League Super Gals in action below:
