Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Warriors FC will have the opportunity to overtake Brunei DPMM as leaders of the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League when they take on Home United at Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday evening.

The Choa Chu Kang-based side sit second in the table on 44 points, just two behind Steve Kean’s DPMM. A victory here will therefore propel them to the summit, albeit having played a game more.

However, there is also the possibility that the title race could go down to the wire with teams like reigning champions Tampines Rovers, Albirex Niigata (S) as well as Home United just mere points away from the top.

This, according to Warriors midfielder Thomas Beattie, can be attributed to the increasing quality of the teams in the S.League this year.

“If somebody was really consistent in the top five, it [the title] would probably be won already,” he said matter-of-factly.

“But maybe you can say that the competition has been a little stronger as well this year, i think the table from top to bottom is pretty close – the top six and bottom six as well and maybe the standard’s a little closer too.”

Back to his side’s title challenge, Beattie admits it has been frustrating at times but is glad that they are still in it.

“We’ve got a few chances this year to jump into that top spot but we always seem to struggle, I’m not sure why really,” the former Hougang United man shared.

“We’ve done well to haul ourselves back to a position where we can push for it. I think everyone’s at the top have been dropping points so I mean it’s kind of unfortunate for us but we are still in a position to go on and try push for the top spot.”

Without a win against Home in the league this season, Beattie expressed optimism ahead of the match but urged caution at the same time especially with the Protectors emerging 4-1 winners in their first meeting at the same venue earlier this year.

“I think they [Home] are always quite strong at Jalan Besar because they pass the ball really well, probably one of the best passing teams in the league,” he observed.

“They’ve got a really good squad and it’s tough against them at Jalan Besar but I think we will be prepared anyway. We are just taking it one game at a time so hopefully we can go out there and do what we want to do and execute it and get the result.”