Written by: Shawn Lim

Warriors FC vs Garena Young Lions

(Friday, 26 August, 7.30pm, Choa Chu Kang Stadium)

Two teams with the poorest defensive records in the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League will meet on Friday night when Warriors FC welcome Garena Young Lions to the Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

Having conceded 51 goals in the league last season, Warriors recruited experienced defenders like Zulfadli Zainal, Hafiz Osman, Ismail Yunos, Jeremy Chiang and Madhu Mohana to shore up their creaking backline.

However, that has not solved the problems in the Warriors defence so far, with the club conceding 33 goals in 19 league games already, and with only 18 games left in the season, it is looking more and more likely that they will equal or exceed their record last year.

It is a similar situation that the Young Lions are facing too, having shipped in a whooping 50 league goals to date, exceeding their defensive record in the league last year by seven goals.

A more worrying figure is that Patrick Hesse’s charges have only managed to score just 15 times in the league this season, as the team clearly struggled without captain and striker Khairul Amri, who was out injured in the early part of the season.

Finding the back of the net this season has been a problem for nine-times S.League champions Warriors too, as their decision to sign only one out-and-out striker in Jonathan Behe has backfired spectacularly.

Warriors have only scored 25 goals in the league this season, with 12 coming from Behe, as compared to the 40 goals they achieved last season. Aside from the Frenchman, Nikola Rak and Ridhuan Muhamad are the club’s second-highest goalscorers, with three goals apiece.

With both clubs left with nothing to play for except their pride and dignity, their main target from now till the end of the season will be to finish in a better position than the other in the bottom half of the table.

There will be some delight in the Warriors camp as they welcome back Rak and Madhu from suspension, while the Young Lions with miss Amri through injury, as well as Shannon Stephen and Hami Syahin because of suspension.

Suspensions: Shannon Stephen and Hami Syahin (both Garena Young Lions)

Warriors FC – LLLLL

19/08/16  Brunei DPMM 3-0 Warriors FC (S.League)

12/08/16  Warriors FC 2-3 Tampines Rovers (S.League)

04/08/16  Home United 3-0 Warriors FC (S.League)

25/07/16  Geylang International 1-0 Warriors FC (League Cup)

21/07/16  Hougang United 4-1 Warriors FC (League Cup)

Garena Young Lions – LDLLL

18/08/16  Garena Young Lions 0-2 Geylang International (S.League)

11/08/16   Albirex Niigata (S) 4-0 Garena Young Lions (S.League)

05/08/16  Garena Young Lions 1-3 Balestier Khalsa (S.League)

19/06/16  Garena Young Lions 1-1 Brunei DPMM (S.League)

14/06/16  Tampines Rovers 6-1 Garena Young Lions (S.League)

Head to Head (S.League)

12/05/16  Garena Young Lions 3-1 Warriors FC

04/03/16  Warriors FC 2-0 Garena Young Lions

16/10/15  Courts Young Lions 2-1 Warriors FC

23/07/15  Warriors FC 0-2 Courts Young Lions

20/04/15  Courts Young Lions 1-2 Warriors FC