Hougang United vs Home United

(15 October, Sunday, 7.30pm, Hougang Stadium)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Hougang United will be looking for another victory over Home United in the Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League when the teams face off at Hougang Stadium on Sunday night.

In their last league meeting in June, it ended 3-2 in favour of the Cheetahs with Fareez Farhan netting the winner seven minutes from time to seal the three points for Hougang.

The two teams met again in The New Paper League Cup Group B encounter a month later, sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw this time round..

Hougang’s Delwinder Singh has however warned that it will be a different game altogether come Sunday night.

“Every game starts at 0-0 and whatever has passed is history,” the 25-year-old defender said.

“This game is going to be an entirely new game. The team will be focused on getting a positive result come end of 90 minutes.”

A result will indeed be imperative for Philippe Aw’s side as they sit sixth with 26 points in 19 games and still have an outside chance of finishing in the top four in the standings.

This is a fact not lost on Delwinder as he intends to help the return to winning ways and finish as high as possible. Their last win came in a 4-1 triumph over Brunei DPMM away from home on September 19 in the S.League..

“We have done our best this season as a team,” he noted. “The team has a lot of quality. We had a stretch where we beat Albirex and Ceres-Negros FC consecutively. On our day, we can definitely beat anybody.

“We will give our all as long as we are still in contention for better finishes.”

It will be the first game for Hougang since their two-legged RHB Singapore Cup semi-final defeat to Philippine side Global Cebu FC last month but Delwinder is already looking ahead to the remaining games.

“Of course, we were all disappointed with the defeat,” he said.

“But this is football and there’s still a third place (playoff) to play for (in the Singapore Cup) and a fourth place finish is still possible so we intend to go all out in our final few games to climb up the table.”

Home meanwhile lie third in the standings as they trail second-placed Tampines Rovers by four points with seven matches to go.

With leaders Albirex Niigata (S) not in action this week, the Protectors will have a chance to close the gap at the top to ten points.

Like Hougang, Home also crashed out of the Singapore Cup as they fell 5-2 on aggregate to Albirex in the last four of the competitions. As such, they will be keen to bounce back and keep their slim title hopes alive.

Suspension: Antoine Viterale (Hougang United)

Hougang United – WWLDL

30/09/17 Hougang United 1-2 Global Cebu FC (RHB Singapore Cup)

27/09/17 Global Cebu FC 2-2 Hougang United (RHB Singapore Cup)

23/09/17 Hougang United 1-2 Brunei DPMM

19/09/17 Brunei DPMM 1-4 Hougang United

15/09/17 Hougang United 2-1 Garena Young Lions

Home United – WDWLL

30/09/17 Home United 1-2 Albirex Niigata (S) (RHB Singapore Cup)

27/09/17 Albirex Niigata (S) 3-1 Home United (RHB Singapore Cup)

23/09/17 Geylang International 1-3 Home United

19/09/17 Home United 1-1 Albirex Niigata (S)

08/09/17 Brunei DPMM 1-4 Home United

Head to Head (S.League)

30/06/17 Home United 2-3 Hougang United

09/04/17 Hougang United 0-2 Home United

12/08/16 Hougang United 4-2 Home United

29/04/16 Home United 3-2 Hougang United

18/02/16 Hougang United 1-0 Home United