Written By: Kenneth Ho

Nobody, not even Brunei DPMM coach Steve Kean, would have begrudged Hougang United a point on Wednesday evening, when they gave DPMM a run for their money and put up a strong fight only to lose out to an Azwan Ali 75th minute header.

“In the first half I thought Hougang were the best side then, they were putting in a lot of crosses and causing us problems,“ Kean said. “Probably we were a tad fortunate to go into the break not conceding a goal.“

“I thought we were better in the second half but I thought Hougang can consider themselves unfortunate not to get something from the game.“

Despite feeling sorry for Hougang, Kean was adamant his side deserved the three points for responding well in the second half.

“You are always pleased with the result when you win especially when you win away from home but I don’t think we played very well,“ he shared.

“I don’t think we were lucky, I think we were better in the second half and they were better in the first half.

“I wouldn’t have been happy (with a point), we were below par and I said to the boys at half time we can increase this performance.

“If you are going to trying to win the championship, I don’t think you can be happy with a point, you need to try and win all the games.“

Hougang coach Amin Nasri was disappointed his side could not get the point he thought his side deserved, and felt that suspension and injury woes had played a part in the result.

“Yes partly also, sometimes we need fresh leg, new ideas, again we missed our injured players,“ Amin lamented.

Nonetheless, he lauded his charges for putting in a good performance and being able to bounce back from their shock 3-2 loss to Geylang International in their last game.

“I am proud of my boys, they really performed well, “ Amin praised.

“We created so many chances, overall I am so pleased with their characters that we bounced back, yes we lost but the performance tonight against Brunei, a good side, it was brilliant.”