Written by: Muhammad Yazid

Home United and Tampines Rovers are now respectively ten and nine points away from league leaders Brunei DPMM after both sides failed to claim victory in an intriguing 2-2 draw.

Tampines’ interim coach Rafi Ali was aware that three consecutive draws since his appointment is a less than satisfactory statistic, he was full of praise for his charges after they performed yet another comeback in the dying minutes of the game.

“We keep on fighting no matter what happens.”

“We are going to face DPMM two more times this season and we can collect six points from there.

“We will just do our job in trying to win games, and let everything else happen on its own.”

“We hope to beat DPMM twice this season, and they still have many games to go,” said the Home coach.

Despite the team’s failure to win, Lee credited his players for their efforts.

“My players are being well-motivated by each other and this must also continue.

“We also created chances to score, but sadly it was not enough.”

“I am satisfied with the performance because we tried to keep the ball and press hard on Tampines.

“Credits to my players; hopefully we can continue this form till the end of the season.

“Anything can happen in football but from now on, we cannot afford to lose any more points anymore.”

His counterpart, Lee Lim Saeng shared the same sentiments as him.

“I am hoping that they will fumble somewhere this season, maybe soon as they are facing Warriors and Home in their next games.

Despite the gap between them and DPMM, Rafi was confident they could still catch up to the league leaders.

“After watching the last three games against Albirex Niigata (S), Warriors FC and Home United tonight, I can safely say that my players are all fighters because we never go down,” Rafi said.

However both coaches are refusing to give up on their title bids, as they expressed hopes that they can close the gap on the league leaders.