Written by: Shawn Lim

Courts Young Lions coach Juergen Raab paid tribute to his players after they emerged 1-0 victors over Albirex Niigata (S) 1-0 on Tuesday night at the Jurong East Stadium.

Jordan Webb scored the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time to help his side achieve the surprise victory.

Raab was delighted with the response his players showed after their poor performance in their 1-1 draw with Harimau Muda in their last game, and he did not hide it.

“I am very, very happy with what the team delivered today. It was a good answer after a bad performance in our match against Harimau Muda and the team showed today what they can do in the field,” said the German.

“I think we played an outstanding first half… unbelievable football and this pitch is not easy to play on so what they showed on the pitch and how we played football, I thought it was really good.

“Jordan was really outstanding, what he showed on the pitch was really a brilliant performance and he was one of the reasons for our victory.

“I think even before we scored the goal, Albirex had no real chance in the first half. But I knew that we cannot play 90 minutes on this pitch because it is not easy.”

The victory was also particularly sweet for Raab as the Young Lions were the more dominant team for a large part of the game and never looked like they were in any real danger.

“We tried to play our style and prevented Albirex from playing their own football. We had two or three difficult situations, but you need luck in football,” said the 56-year-old.

“Albirex is to me one of the best team, how they play football in Singapore and that’s why we cannot say we can dominate them for 90 minutes. That’s not possible.

“But we did it for so long in the game and it was really good. I think that is why we won this match.”

Meanwhile, Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama expressed his disappointment at the defeat, which was a huge blow to his side’s chances of winning the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League.

The loss to the Young Lions left the White Swans staring at a seven point gap between themselves and leaders Brunei DPMM with only three games in the season left.

“Of course, we were trying to win the game and I think this result is disappointing, but I want to thank my players for giving their all despite the tight schedule,” said the Japanese.

“We had a couple of chances to score, but I think our players are too tired. We did our best for this game.

“We have to look at the results of the other teams now, and we still have three games, which we will try to win as a professionals.”