Courts Young Lions vs Tampines Rovers 

(Sunday, 26 September, 7:30pm, Jalan Besar Stadium)

Written by: Nigel Chin

Courts Young Lions will be looking to end their winless streak at home when they host Tampines Rovers on Sunday evening.

In eight matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium, they have drawn two and lost six games.

All five victories of their season came away from home, with one of it a narrow one-goal victory over Tampines at the Jurong West Stadium just a week ago.

Coach Juergen Raab is well aware of the record, and he wants his charges to end this unwanted barren run at home.

“We have a problem with this stadium, I don’t know why. We will try it again on Sunday and find the solutions to this problem,” Raab said.

Raab is also targeting to finish the season in mid-table. The Young Lions are currently in ninth place on the standings, and trail Harimau Muda in seventh place by just three points, while they are behind eighth-placed Hougang United on goal difference.

“That’s the target, we can do this,” Raab said. “It was unlucky we could not win against DPMM and we have to learn from that.

“That way we can make the steps into the eighth or seventh place. We have the quality to do it.”

Meanwhile, Tampines Rovers will be looking to avoid another defeat that will most certainly take them out of the title race.

The Stags are currently 11 points behind league leaders Brunei DPMM, although with two games in hand.

A failure to win either of those two games will spell the end of their title challenge, which will mean that Tampines will finish trophyless for a second straight year.

Against Home United, they were losing 2-1 at half-time before the game was postponed due to haze, and they will certainly be looking to avoid the same mistakes.

Tampines will have to do it without captain Fahrudin Mustafic and defensive lynchpin Isa Halim, who are both suspended.

While Predrag Pocuca will be asked to step into the void left at the back, which means one of the foreign attackers – Roberto Alviz, Naeem Rahimi, Mateo Roskam or Rodrigo Tosi, will be dropped to accommodate the centre-back.

Suspension: Jordan Webb (Courts Young Lions), Fahrudin Mustafic, Isa Halim (Tampines Rovers)

Key Men to Watch

Courts Young Lions: Afiq Noor

The playmaker has been enjoying a good run of form recently, and is a key component in Raab’s tactical plans.

In the defeat against DPMM, Afiq was the top Young Lions performer, dictating the midfield as the Young Lions mounted a comeback in the second half.

Against the Stags, Afiq will once again be trusted with the keys to unlock Tampines’ defence.

Tampines Rovers: Rodrigo Tosi

Last season’s top scorer have found the going hard this year. However, on his day, Tosi is still one of the most feared attacker, with the ability to create for his teammates or score himself.

Young Lions will need to keep an eye out for him if they want to emerge from the game with a result.

Tampines Rovers – WDWWL

19/09/15 Tampines Rovers 0-1 Courts Young Lions (S.League)

15/09/15 Tampines Rovers 5-1 Harimau Muda (S.League)

27/08/15    Harimau Muda 0-1 Tampines Rovers (S.League)

21/08/15    Tampines Rovers 0-0 Balestier Khalsa (S.League)

13/08/15    Tampines Rovers 1-0 Brunei DPMM (Singapore Cup)

Courts Young Lions – WLLWL

22/09/15 Courts Young Lions 1-2 Brunei DPMM (S.League)

19/09/15 Tampines Rovers 0-1 Courts Young Lions (S.League)

27/08/15 Courts Young Lions 0-2 Home United (S.League)

23/08/15     Brunei DPMM 2-0 Courts Young Lions (S.League)

20/08/15     Geylang International 1-3 Courts Young Lions (S.League)

Head To Head (S.League)

19/09/15 Tampines Rovers 0-1 Courts Young Lions

05/03/14 Tampines Rovers 1-0 Courts Young Lions

23/05/14 Courts Young Lions 1 – 2 Tampines Rovers

01/03/14 Tampines Rovers 3 – 2 Courts Young Lions

06/08/13 Courts Young Lions 2 – 4 Tampines Rovers