Written by: Muhammad Yazid

Courts Young Lions relished a 3-1 victory over Woodlands Wellington and coach Aide Iskandar could not have been happier after the final whistle.

“I am very glad we won tonight, and the key to our success was confidence,” he said.

“We showed a lot of confidence and urgency, and created many chances.”

Despite going home with all three points, the former international however felt that the win could have been larger.

“We were clinical but if we were a little bit more clinical, we could have scored two or three more,” Aide mentioned.

“At half-time we needed to protect the lead. It was not over at 1-0 and I knew Woodlands will come at us in the second half.

“Apart from conceding the penalty, our defence did very well. We were tight at the back throughout the game and denied Moon Soon Ho and Chang Jo Yoon space.

“We also enjoyed more possession than Woodlands and overall, I am very happy.”

The gaffer also admitted that his side was able to overcome the hurdle of playing during the fasting month of Ramadan.

“I told my players that although it is the fasting period, we have a job to do and be professional. We should never use that as an excuse to not perform well and play good football,” the former Singapore skipper commented.

His counterpart, Salim Moin was displeased with the result and blamed the players’ overconfidence.

“My players were too complacent,” he said.

“When we play a lower team, we tend to get very complacent, as compared to when we play a team of higher standard, where the team morale is high.

“We had chances which we should have converted. Maybe if we had scored early, it would have been a different ball game;.”

Salim then admitted that the pre-game warming up did not showcase the usual positivity.

“I have a sixth-sense and it was sloppy everywhere,” he uttered.

“If the warming up is not right, then it would pre-determine the fabric of the game.”