Written by: Nigel Chin

Brunei DPMM coach Steve Kean was a relieved man after seeing the ball hit the back of the net right at the death in his side’s 2-1 win over Courts Young Lions on Wednesday evening.

Rosmin Kamis netted deep into injury-time to settle the contest, as Kean’s charges extended their lead to six points at the top of the table.

The win also stretched DPMM’s unbeaten streak in the league to eleven games.

However, DPMM were made to work for the win after missing chance after chance throughout the entire 90 minutes.

“It’s a relief, because if we haven’t got the three points, that would have really dented out momentum and we want to continue to put pressure on the teams around us,” Kean said.

“I’m sure Young Lions are really dejected, but on the amount of chances compared to what they had, the game should have been on our side.

“Psychologically it’s a big one. It gives us a big lift to score so late, and probably puts us in a strong position now that we can keep the momentum going – that’s the most important thing.

“These points are going to be massively important come the end of the season.”

However, Kean wants his players to be more clinical in front of goal after witnessing another poor performance upfront.

“This is the thing we need to stamp out because it was the same against Albirex,” Kean stated.

“When you have five really good chances and you don’t kill a team off, if you don’t get that second goal, it’s always going to be a case where a good young team like Young Lions are, they are going to keep coming and cause you problems.

“We can’t keep on letting teams get back to you. We were so dominant in the first part of the game we really need to kill teams because if you don’t, that just invite pressure and that was the problem.”

Courts Young Lions coach Juergen Raab thought the result was disappointing, but stated that the performance in the second half was amazing.

“It’s very tough, it’s not easy to sit here and explain this defeat especially after the second half was unbelievable with the team, with this problem we’ve had, we had to replace so much players,” said the German.

“What they’ve done in the second half was really fantastic. They had spirit, wanted to play football, and I said at half-time we played with too much respect in the first half. That was not the football we can deliver.

“But in the moment it’s very hard for the players. Very disappointed with the result but we can be happy with what they have shown in the second half.”

Raab also praised goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari, who made a number of saves to keep Young Lions in the game.

“Syazwan is a really really top goalkeeper and he helped us in the game with the saves. If you know you have such a goalkeeper, then it’s a good thing,” Raab said.