Ong Yu En celebrates with Faris Ramli after scoring his side’s third goal, 9 March 2023

 

SINGAPORE, 11 MARCH 2023 – There is a new leader in the 2023 AIA Singapore Premier League after three matchweeks, with Tampines Rovers taking over at the top after easily dispatching Young Lions, while Geylang International got pushed down to second after losing to Tanjong Pagar United.

 

Champions Albirex Niigata (S) are up to third after demolishing Lion City Sailors in a clash between last season’s top two, while Balestier Khalsa make up the top four after a stunning comeback win against Brunei DPMM. We recap all the action below…

 

Business as usual for champions
Albirex Niigata 4-0 Lion City Sailors | Jurong East Stadium | 9 March 2023

Lionel Tan O.G. 30′, Ryo Takahashi 37’, Kaisei Ogawa 87′, Seia Kunori 89′ 

 

 

It all went downhill for the Sailors after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) had adjudged M. Anumanthan to have committed a red card offence early in the game, as Albirex raced into a two-goal lead before half time with Tan putting past his own goalkeeper and Takahashi lashing an unerring finish past Zharfan Rohaizad. With the numerical advantage, the White Swans sealed victory late on with Ogawa curling home a free-kick from 20 yards out before Kunori netted a fine goal from the edge of the area to put the Sailors out of their misery.

 

Facts

• The Sailors have yet to beat Albirex in the SPL since their inception in 2020.
• Albirex have scored four goals in each of the last three league meetings against the Sailors.
• Albirex are unbeaten in 12 home games at Jurong East in all competitions since losing 2-1 to Tanjong Pagar in July 2022.
• The Sailors have now conceded in each of their last 13 games in all competitions since August 2022.
• Albirex’s Hassan Sunny has started the season with three straight shutouts, including the Community Shield victory over Hougang.

Albirex: Hassan Sunny (GK), Ryo Takahashi, Koki Kawachi, Shunsaku Kishimoto, Sho Fuwa (Masaya Watanabe 76’), Asahi Yokokawa (C), Kaisei Ogawa, Shuto Komaki (Shodai Yokoyama 46’), Nicky Melvin Singh (Riku Fukashiro 46’), Tadanari Lee (Keito Komatsu 71’), Seia Kunori (Keito Hariya 90’+1).
Unused subs: Yoshihiko Kobayashi (GK), Shakthi Vinayagavijayan, Junki Yoshimura, Kenji Austin.

Sailors: Zharfan Rohaizad (GK), Bill Mamadou, M. Anumanthan, Lionel Tan, Christopher van Huizen, Hariss Harun (C) (Rusyaidi Salime 73’), Hami Syahin (Arshad Shamim 18’), Diego Lopes (Adam Swandi 73’), Hafiz Nor, Maxime Lestienne, Kodai Tanaka (Shawal Anuar 52′).
Unused subs: Adib Nur Hakim (GK), Zulqarnaen Suzliman, Abdul Rasaq Akeem, Haiqal Pashia, Jonan Tan.

Red Card: M.Anumanthan

 

Ryo Takahashi and Seia Kunori celebrate after the full back scored Albirex’s second goal against Sailors, 9 March 2023

 

Stags continue their charge
Young Lions 0-3 Tampines Rovers | Jalan Besar Stadium | 9 March 2023
Taufik Suparno 31′, Faris Ramli 34’, Ong Yu En 82′

 

 

The result was never in doubt after Taufik netted a thumping header off Joel Chew’s corner as Faris then swiftly added a second with a cool finish inside the area. Ong rounded off the victory late on as he was at the right place at the right time to convert after Boris Kopitovic’s header came off the bar.

 

Facts

• Tampines picked up two straight clean sheets for the first time since November 2020 – 2-0 and 1-0 wins over Albirex and Young Lions respectively.
• Tampines are now unbeaten in their last 11 SPL matches since August 2022.
• Young Lions are now win-less in their last 18 games in all competitions since a 4-2 win over Tanjong Pagar in August 2022.
• Young Lions have now conceded in their last 67 SPL outings since September 2019.
• Taufik has netted in each of his last four appearances against Young Lions, tallying a total of five goals.
• Faris has now scored in three straight league games for the first time since netting six in a row for Hougang in Sep 2019 – all three goals were scored inside the box and with his weaker (left) foot.
• Ong scored his second-ever professional goal – his first goal came on his professional debut, also against Young Lions in Albirex’s 2-0 win in November 2020.
• Young Lions’ Syahadat Masnawi made his first SPL appearance in almost three years – he last featured back in March 2020 in Tanjong Pagar’s 2-2 draw with Albirex.

Young Lions: Aizil Yazid (GK), Raoul Suhaimi, Danial Crichton (Ilhan Noor 82′), Jun Kobayashi (C), Adam Reefdy, Kan Kobayashi, Amir Syafiz, Harith Kanadi (Fairuz Fazli 66′), Elijah Lim (Haziq Kamarudin 80′), Andrew Aw (Harhys Stewart 66’), Jordan Emaviwe (Syahadat Masnawi 80′).
Unused subs: Danial Iliya (GK), Ryan Praveen, Iman Hakim, Aqil Yazid.

Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Irfan Najeeb (Syed Firdaus Hassan 66’), Shuya Yamashita, Milos Zlatkovic, Amirul Haikal (Ryaan Sanizal 73′), Kyoga Nakamura, Shah Shahiran, Joel Chew (Rezza Rezky 73′), Faris Ramli (Firdaus Kasman 82′), Taufik Suparno (Ong Yu En 66′), Boris Kopitovic.
Unused subs: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Danish Irfan, Yasir Hanapi, Glenn Kweh.

 

Ong Yu En against Young Lions, 9 March 2023

 

Jaguars grab first win of the season
Tanjong Pagar United 2-0 Geylang International | Jurong East Stadium | 10 March 2023
Shakir Hamzah 19′, Blake Ricciuto 48′

 

 

Tanjong Pagar took advantage of Geylang head coach Mohd Noor Ali’s absence from the touchline, with Shakir first producing a thumping finish from close range after being teed up by Blake Ricciuto. The provider then turned scorer in the second half as he nodded home Akram Azman’s left-wing cross in off the bar to seal the Jaguars’ first win of 2023.

 

Facts

• Geylang lost for the first time in nine SPL matches – their last defeat before this came in September 2022 when they went down 4-2 to Hougang.
• Shakir scored his first goal since August 2021 in Tanjong Pagar’s 2-2 draw with Tampines – he has also already made three starts in 2023, one more than his entire 2022 season.
• Ricciuto has scored in each of his four SPL campaigns till date, including 2019, 2021 and 2022.
• Tanjong Pagar’s Kenji Rusydi kept his first clean sheet since November 2020 in Tanjong Pagar’s 0-0 draw with Hougang.

Tanjong Pagar: Kenji Rusydi (GK), Tajeli Salamat, Shakir Hamzah (C), Faizal Roslan, Naufal Ilhan (Naqiuddin Eunos 60′), Blake Ricciuto, Mirko Sugic (Zulfadhmi Suzliman 82′), Fathullah Rahmat, Akram Azman (Raihan Rahman 85′), Khairul Amri (Syukri Bashir 60′), Marin Mudrazija.

Unused subs: Fashah Iskandar (GK), Shahrin Saberin, Azim Akbar, Khairul Hairie.

Geylang: Hafiz Ahmad (GK), Amirul Adli, Rio Sakuma, Joshua Pereira (C), Huzaifah Aziz, Takahiro Tezuka, Vincent Bezecourt, Yushi Yamaya, Gareth Low (Shahfiq Ghani 46’), Danish Haziq (Iqbal Hussain 46′), Naufal Azman (Muhd Noor Ariff 74′).
Unused subs: Ridhwan Fikri (GK), Faisal Shahril, Muthukumaran Navaretthinam, Sham Syed Mohamed, Afiq Iqbal.

 

Blake Ricciuto celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal, 11 March 2023

 

Taniguchi and Tigers continue to prowl
Brunei DPMM 3-4 Balestier Khalsa | Jalan Besar Stadium | 10 March 2023
Andrey Voronkov 5′, Azwan Ali Rahman 7′, Ho Wai Loon O.G. 45’+2 | Ryoya Taniguchi 18′, 64′, 90’+10, Alen Kozar pen. 55′

 

 

It had looked pretty for DPMM as they raced into a two-goal lead early on with Voronkov calmly lifting the ball over Hairul Syirhan from close range before Azwan Ali applied the finishing touch to some brilliant build-up play to join the scoresheet. Taniguchi pulled one back for Balestier through a header, but the Bruneian side restored their two-goal advantage through Ho’s own goal just before the break. The tide turned in the second half with DPMM reduced to 10 men with Yura dismissed after a VAR review before Kozar converted the subsequent spot-kick to pull one back. Taniguchi then rose to the fore with an opportunistic finish to level it up before lashing home a long-range stunner deep into injury time to complete the win.

 

Facts

• The last time Balestier won after going two goals down came from their 5-3 win over Sailors in October 2022, with Taniguchi netting his two career hat-tricks on both occasions.
• Balestier are the highest-scoring team in the 2023 SPL so far with nine goals in three matches – two more than any other side.
• Balestier have scored at least three goals in five out of the nine matches since Peter de Roo took charge in late August 2022.
• Balestier picked up back-to-back wins for the first time since April 2022.
• DPMM lost their first two SPL matches of the season for the first time since 2017.

DPMM: Akmal Tursunbaev (GK), Awangku Fakharrazi, Yura Indera Putera, Angel Martinez, Najib Tarif, Hendra Azam (Hanif Farhan 67′), Hanif Hamir (Wafi Aminuddin 67′), Josip Balic (Syafiq Hilmi 78′), Azwan Ali Rahman (C), Andrey Voronkov, Hakeme Yazid (Nazirrudin Ismail 90’+10).
Unused subs: Haimie Nyaring (GK), Abdul Mu’iz Sisa, Abdul Azizi Rahman, Razimie Ramlli, Hirzi Zulfaqar.

Balestier: Hairul Syirhan (GK), Darren Teh, Madhu Mohana, Emmeric Ong, Fudhil I’yadh (Syukri Noorhaizam 90’+10), Alen Kozar, Ryoya Taniguchi, Ho Wai Loon (C), Daniel Goh, Ignatius Ang (Max McCoy 82’), Shuhei Hoshino.
Unused subs: Mukundan Maran (GK), Syabil Hisham, Fabian Kwok, Amer Hakeem, Aidil Johari, Kian Jared Ghadessy, Irfan Mika’il.

 

Ryoya Taniguchi celebrates after completing his hat-trick and his team’s comeback against DPMM, 10 March 2023

 

 

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