Written By: Dwayne James

Hougang United coach Amin Nasir was delighted to walk away with a point against Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League leaders Brunei DPMM after their 2-2 draw at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas on Sunday evening.

DPMM looked set to claim all three points from the counter before Geison Moura struck at the death to give the Cheetahs a point.

“To me, 2-2 is an excellent result as we got one point away from home,” said Amin.

“We know that they are physical and strong. They play the high ball a lot of times. But we stuck to our plan and we kept disciplined

“I’m glad that we managed to score in the dying minute,” he added.

“We knew that there was always a chance to get a goal when we were attacking especially in the attacking third.

“I’m glad that we got a goal. It was a good result and I’m happy with that,” continued the Cheetahs coach.

Amin was also full of praise for his charges on executing the game plan.

“The boys were full of character. Looking at possession, they were ahead of us. But we stuck to our plan,” said Amin.

“We compact the middle and frustrated them at times. Credit to my boys as our plan technically worked.

“Trailing 2-1 and in closing minutes… Tosi was scary. But I knew that there was chance it was not over but somehow we managed to score a goal,” he added.

His counterpart Steve Kean was disappointed that they let all three points slip away and felt they had done enough to deserve the win.

“It feels like a defeat as we were seconds away from coming back from behind for a good victory,” said Kean.

“I’m disappointed as we didn’t use our experience a little bit. We should have been a little bit smarter.

“We should have put the ball in the corner and really just close the game down a little bit.

“We were still playing like we were trying to score another goal,” he added.

“I felt that we have done enough to win the game. It is always dangerous in the last few minutes when the opposition throws all sorts of people forward.

“The lesson tonight when we were ahead in last few minutes –  Control the ball and control the game and control the result,” continued Kean.

The draw sees DPMM’s lead at the top of the table down to only one point from Tampines Rovers.

Kean insists that there is no pressure on them as they are still in the driving seat.

“If we were three or one point above them…  It is just about being above them,” said Kean.

“They rather be in our position. They would be delighted with the last minute goal or everyone around as it makes it tight. But we are still ahead.

“We have come back from being behind but we are disappointed that we didn’t win it. We had enough chances to win two games,” concluded Kean.