Written By: Kenneth Ho

Balestier Khalsa coach Marko Kraljevic had no words of excuse for his side following the Tigers’ 3-1 loss to reigning S.League champions  Tampines Rovers on Sunday evening.

The Stags had only managed to create a few chances throughout the match despite their enterprising play, but still saw three goals being etched onto the scoresheet.

“This is making it count, whatever they (Tampines) shoot everything goes in, sometimes people just lose focus and then we get punished,“ Kraljevic said.

“We were down in the first half due to some mistakes, we conceded two goals and it is very difficult to come back,“

“Second half we were not bad, we could score one goal to make it 3-1 then we needed one more goal but the second goal didn’t come.“

Initially setting the championship as the target, Kraljevic was aware that his side now has a tough task to fulfil that objective as the defeat also meant that Balestier were now 10 points off the pace for first spot, as league leaders Tampines occupy that space with 18 points.

However, Kraljevic once again reiterated that his side needed their influential midfielder Park Kang Jin to challenge for the title, although he was trying to plug in the gap left by the South Korean.

“It really depends on him (Park), it is totally different game when he is around. I don’t want to say champions depend on one player but we are really missing him now.“

After the win, Tampines coach Salim Moin expressed his relief at his side managing to stem their two-game losing streak in all competition with a brilliant response.

“I feel very happy with the boys, they have stand up today and played good football. In the second half they were a little lethargic but overall performance I am very happy,“ Salim said.

“Because the most important thing is we win, we get the three points and we still remain in the top.“