Written by: Muhammad Yazid

Hougang United gained a fortunate 1-1 draw against Woodlands Wellington on Thursday evening thanks to an injury-time penalty by Diego Gama, and the Cheetahs’ coach Amin Nasir had nothing but delight on his face after the final whistle.

“We were lucky to equalise with a penalty but I think we deserved it,” Amin shared.

“My players worked very hard especially in the second half, after a poor first half performance when we were not in the game.”

The tactician who has lifted Hougang to the top half of the table in the span of just a year credited the attitude of his charges.

“My team was full of discipline and I am very happy because we never gave up till the last minute.

“If we had scored an early goal, we could have won the game though.”

Amin admitted that it was not an easy game against a side whom they shared the spoils in the season opener.

“Credits to Woodlands, they capitalised their chance to score.

“We anticipated the tough game and as we could see the Woodlands’ defenders were tightly marking our strikers, so I told Geison Moura to drop deep to collect the balls.

“Yes I am happy we managed a draw but of course a win would have been sweeter.

“For now we have to re-group and organize before our next game,” he said.

His counterpart, Darren Stewart once again refused to mourn over the loss of two points, but chose to be contented with the point his side walk away.

“All my players did well; it was a positive performance after last week’s disappointment.

“We bounced back after two defeats with the right spirit and this is a good sign for the team.

“Unfortunately things changed at the end and I am disappointed that we conceded a late goal, but it happens in football.”

The gaffer also spared mentions for his right-back Andy Ahmad, whose tackle resulted in the penalty late in the game.

“He has been starting every game this season when he was not even playing in the S.League last season.

“He is one of the best performers in my team and he made his first mistake tonight, after 12 games.

“So I would not let it bring him down and I hope the team motivates him.”

With Woodlands welcoming back Patrick Paran, Stefan Milojevic and Shahril Alias, Stewart was confident his side would be climbing up the ranks in the weeks to come.

“We are going to build on from tonight as we have more players getting back after injury, which is pleasing to see.”