Written by: Nicholas Wong

Geylang International extended their winning run to two games in the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League after handing Garena Young Lions a 3-1 defeat at Bedok Stadium on Thursday.

The win against the Young Lions was the Eagles’ first back-to-back victories this season after they defeated defending champions Brunei DPMM 2-1 last week, and it saw them moved up to fifth place in the league table, while their opponents remained rooted to the foot of the table.

The hosts got off to a dream start when referee G.Letchman pointed to the spot barely two minutes into the game after Sahil Suhaimi was deemed to have been dragged to the ground in the penalty box.

Carlos Delgado then stepped up and fired the Eagles into the lead with a well-taken penalty-kick. It was also the Argentinean’s fourth goal of the season.

The Eagles could have doubled their lead in the 11th minute after Sahil had played Stanely Ng through on goal, but Young Lions custodian Benjamin Bertrand came off his line and made a good block with his legs.

Chances remained at a premium after that as the Eagles could not find a way through the well-organised Young Lions’ defence.

Both goalkeepers had only one significant save to make before the break as Bertrand saved Shawal Anuar’s curling drive from outside the box comfortably, before Geylang custodian Syazwan Buhari reacted well to stop Fareez Farhan’s dangerous free-kick.

The Young Lions started brightly after the interval and were awarded a penalty-kick in the 52nd minute after Daniel Bennett had inexplicably barged into Rusyaidi Salime in the 18-yard box, and Fareez duly converted his spot-kick.

The hosts could have restored their lead four minutes later when an inch-perfect cross from Shawal found Delgado, but the latter headed the ball just narrowly over the crossbar.

Geylang coach Hasrin Jailani sensed that the Young Lions’ confidence had begun to grow and he made two attacking changes midway through the second period, bringing on Amy Recha and Gabriel Quak for Delgado and Isa Halim.

The substitution almost worked wonders in the 73rd minute when Quak drove through on goal and fired a fierce drive at goal that was saved at point-blank by Bertrand.

However, Bertrand made a blunder just two minutes later when he somehow dropped a routine catch from a Geylang’s corner and a gleeful Yuki Ichikawa stabbed the ball home to give the Eagles the lead.

Quak then repaid his coach’s faith a minute from time when he dazzled his way into the box from the right flank, side-stepped challenges from three defenders and slotted the ball past Bertrand to make it 3-1 to the hosts.

There was still time for Geylang to try to score a fourth goal in stoppage time when a long ball out of defence sent Sahil through on goal, but the striker somehow curled his shot wide with only Bertrand to beat.

Geylang International coach Hasrin Jailani: “I think this is one of our worst performances this season, but anyway, three points is three points.

“You play well and then draw or lose; you don’t play well but win – which one is better? I prefer the three points, but at the end of the day we still need to go back home and see what we need to do.”

Garena Young Lions coach Patrick Hesse: “When we start the game, we already lost 1-0 because the guys are not able to play 10 minutes without conceding a goal.

“If you cannot do this, you can’t play in the S.League and I’m very very disappointed because we have worked on this, but it still happens game after game.”

Geylang International: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Yuki Ichikawa, Shariff Samat, Daniel Bennett, Faritz Hameed, Safirul Sulaiman, Isa Halim (C) (Gabriel Quak 61′), Stanely Ng (Nor Azli 83′), Carlos Delgado (Amy Recha 61′), Shawal Anuar, Sahil Suhaimi

Garena Young Lions: Benjamin Bertrand (GK), Amirul Adli, Ashrul Syafeeq, Irfan Asyraf (Khairul Amri 46′), Shannon Stephen (Taufiq Muqminin 77′), Rusyaidi Salime, Muhaimin Suhaimi, Hami Syahin (Zulfadhmi Sulizman 86′), Firdaus Kasman (C), Joshua Bernard Pereira, Fareez Farhan