Written By: Kenneth Ho

Bruno Castanheira was at his imperious best on Sunday evening as he scored a hat-trick to help Geylang International to a 3-2 win over Courts Young Lions.

The win was Geylang’s first in the league since May, where they went on a nine-game winless streak after beating Home United 1-0.

Geylang were helped by the dismissal of Afiq Noor, after he received his second yellow card in the 73rd minute.

His sending off gave Geylang the advantage when the scores were tied at 2-2, and a goal by Castanheira in the 76th minute proved the difference between both teams in a thrilling game.

The first real chance of the game came in the 17th minute, when Rudy Khairullah fumbled Mustaqim Manzur’s free-kick into Jozef Kaplan’s path.

Luckily for the goalkeeper, his defender Sheikh Abdul Hadi blocked the Geylang captain’s shot.

But the scoring was opened in the 25th minute, with Jordan Webb doing so with a sublime solo effort.

Embarking on a dazzling run down the left, Webb proceeded to cut in from the byline before unleashing an effort from an acute angle past Yazid Yasin.

Geylang had the ball in the back of the net just three minutes later after Kaplan stabbed in the ball but he was flagged offside.

However, the equaliser soon arrived in a spectacular manner for the Eagles in the 37th minute.

Mustaqim found Castanheira in the box with his corner and the Japanese struck a brilliant first-time effort into the top corner to level matters.

Both sides enjoyed a chance each to go in front just before the break, but Yazid showed great reflexes to parry a Shahfiq Ghani point-blank shot while Hafiz Nor blasted over from eight yards out at the other end.

The Eagles finally went ahead just before the hour mark, with Castanheira hitting another exquisite first-time shot past Rudy following a long through ball by Mustaqim.

The lead barely lasted four minutes though, as Shameer Aziq scored his fourth goal in as many games in the 63rd minute with a header from close range after a knock down by Webb.

However, all the Young Lions’ hard work were undone in the 73rd minute when Afiq received his marching orders.

Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, Geylang pressed the Young Lions more and they were rewarded for it in the 76th minute.

Fadli Kamis was guilty of losing the ball to Kaplan and the Geylang captain ran into space before releasing Castanheira, who calmly put the ball past Rudy for his hat-trick.

The Japanese forward could have scored his fourth goal in the 80th minute when Rudy tipped away Kaplan’s shot to him but Castanheira hit wide instead.

Kaplan also miss another two gilt-edged chances in the dying minutes of the game, but they proved inconsequential as Geylang earned their first S.League win in nine outings.

Court Young Lions: Rudy Khairullah (GK), Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli (Suria Prakash 64′), M.Anumanthan, Safirul Sulaiman, Shahfiq Ghani, Jordan Webb, Sheikh Abdul Hadi (C), Sherif El-Masri (Ammirul Emmran 75′), Afiq Noor, Shameer Aziq (Nur Na’iim Ishak 64′)

Geylang International: Yazid Yasin (GK), Kento Fukuda, Anaz Hadee, Mustaqim Manzur, Syed Thaha (Huzaifah Aziz 76′), Shawal Anuar (Tatsuro Inui 80′)), Hafiz Nor, Shah Hirul (Zulkifli Suzliman 68′), Jozef Kaplan (C), Bruno Castanheira, Nor Azli