The Frenchman took his league tally to 10 as his side won their second consecutive match

Jonathan Behe being congratulated by his Warriors FC team-mates after scoring.

SINGAPORE, 17 JUNE 2018 – Warriors FC continued their road to recovery in the Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League (SPL) with a 3-2 success over Tampines Rovers FC at Our Tampines Hub on Sunday evening.

Jonathan Behe grabbed a hat-trick to make it two wins on the trot for his side, while Khairul Amri and Jordan Webb scored for the Stags.

The hosts had come into this game on the back of a four-game winning streak and were widely expected to extend that run, but it was the Warriors who began the better of the two teams.

They first threatened in the sixth minute, after Tajeli Salamat swung in a corner that caused mayhem in the box. Several Warriors players tried to force the ball over the line, but Syazwan Buhari was on hand to claim the ball.

Tampines responded through Fahrudin Mustafic at the other end three minutes later as he rose the highest to meet Yasir Hanapi’s corner, but he could only glance his effort over the bar.

It would be a miss Mustafic would come to regret as the visitors took the lead in the 11th minute through a penalty.

Tajeli’s strong run into the box was halted illegally by Webb and Behe duly converted the resulting spot-kick, sending Syazwan the wrong way.

The Frenchman nearly turned provider in the 23rd minute as he found Ignatius Ang, whose close range shot was deflected out for a corner.

It did become 2-0 in the 32nd minute when Behe had a sight of goal from 20 yards out and promptly slammed home a powerful grounder that left Syazwan with no chance.

Pressed into action, Tampines sent on Amri and Madhu Mohana in the second half, but it was the Warriors who continued to carve out the better chances.

Three minutes in, Ho Wai Loon made a marauding run into the danger area and he laid the ball on for Behe, who forced a save out of Syazwan with his low shot.

The striker did not need to wait long to secure the match ball though, doing so just a minute past the hour mark.

Going on the break, Behe first slalomed past Tampines defender Daniel Bennett before drawing out Syazwan and poking home from an acute angle.

It looked to have sealed a comfortable win for the Warriors – until Tampines scored twice in the last ten minutes to set up a nervy ending.

Mukundan Maranm, who had a reasonably quiet evening, was called into action in the 83rd minute with a top-drawer save to claw away Amri’s equally sublime volley.

But Amri was not to be denied, sending in a cross-shot that left Mukundan grasping at thin air to give the Stags a lifeline with six minutes remaining.

Remarkably, Webb would then reduce the deficit four minutes later after picking his spot from distance to make it 3-2.

But there was to be no salvation as the nine-time champions hung on to edge a thriller, which saw them move up to sixth spot.

Warriors will have a week to recover before they take on Balestier Khalsa on 23 June, while Tampines will get a ten-day break before playing Home United FC on 26 June.

WHAT THEY SAID
Tampines Head Coach Juergen Raab: “There’s not much to say. In the first half, I am not sure what happened; we played very badly, there was no energy, no power, there were so many mistakes. We gave them the chances to score and so we came into the second half in a bad position, but we tried to change things and we tried very hard, but we did not make the best decisions.

“I thought we would lose 3-0, I thought it was their day and nothing would work for us, but (it was a) great effort from the team to score the late goals. If we had more luck, we could have scored the equaliser. The team did not delivered what they had in the last few matches, we always came in and dominated and had the right mindset, so for me I must think about what happened and speak with the players.”

Warriors Head Coach Mirko Grabovac: “What can I say about this game? In the first half, I thought we had a good game and we made very good decisions today. You can see that Behe, when he is 100 per cent fit, he is a different player, but most of the players played very well, even Tajeli. For 85 minutes, we played very well. I told them (there were) many good attacking plays from behind, a lot of good options and we are improving.”

Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Amirul Adli, Zulfadhmi Suzliman (Khairul Amri 46’), Ryutaro Megumi, Fazrul Nawaz, Jordan Webb, Daniel Bennett, Irwan Shah (Shah Shahiran 78’), Yasir Hanapi, Faizal Raffi (Madhu Mohana 46’).
Unused subs: Haikal Hasnol (GK), Afiq Yunos, Ryhan Stewart.

Warriors: Mukundan Maran (GK), Ismadi Mukhtar, Delwinder Singh (Ammirul Emmran 68’), Kento Fukuda (C), Emmeric Ong, Jonathan Behe, Ignatius Ang (Hafiz Sulaiman 59’), Daniel Shafiq, Nur Luqman (Shamil Sharif 46’), Tajeli Salamat, Ho Wai Loon.
Unused subs: Hyrulnizam Juma’at (GK), Sahil Suhaimi, Fadhil Noh, Firdaus Kasman.

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