Written by: Shawn Lim

Global FC suffered their first defeat in a competitive match this season as they were handed a 3-1 reverse by Tampines Rovers in the RHB Singapore Cup quarter-finals first leg match at the Jurong West Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Filipino side will have it all to do when both sides meet again for the second-leg on Saturday, but will feel that they still stand a chance of overcoming the deficit after a gutsy performance against the Stags.

The visitors took just four minutes to register their first shot on target when Misagh Bahadoran nicked the ball off Jordan Webb before playing in Hikaru Minegishi, who drifted in from the left flank with the ball and dragged his shot wide.

 

After surviving that early scare, the Stags pressed forward and duly broke the deadlock in the 13th minute when Jermaine Pennant made a mazy run to the halfway line from the right flank before releasing Hafiz Sujad, who then sent in a low cross for Billy Mehmet to slam home from close-range.

Tampines almost doubled their lead in the 33th minute, but Fazrul Nawaz was beaten to Irwan Shah’s cross by Global custodian Patrick Deyto, who then recovered in time to block Hafiz’s follow-up shot.

Global had struggled to create a meaningful opportunity after the early chance, but headed into the break on level terms when Misagh Bahadoran scored from close-range on the stroke of half-time after a great link-up play by Matthew Hartmann and Omid Nazari.

 

Pennant could have restored Tampines’ lead three minutes after break, but sent his trademark free-kick over the crossbar.

The danger from the Stags grew with every raid into the visitors’ half after that and they duly took the lead again in the 61st minute when Webb played Fazrul Nawaz through on goal and the in-form striker drilled his shot past Deyto.

Shakir Hamzah had a glorious chance to increase Tampines’ lead four minutes later when he roes the highest to meet Pennant’s corner-kick, but an alert Deyto managed to tip the ball over the crossbar.

 

The third goal arrived for Tampines in the 69th minute when an incisive passing movement started by Jordan Webb saw the Canadian sending Irwan Shah through on goal, who then cut the ball back from the byline for Hafiz Sujad to finish with aplomb.

With the win, Tampines hold a two-goal lead ahead of the return leg scheduled for 2 July 2016 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

 

Tampines Rovers coach Akbar Nawas: “We are in a good position, but there is another 90 minutes of football and anything can happen because we only have a two-goal lead.

“This Global team is good and they gave us a fight, so it will be another tough battle on Saturday.”

 

Global FC coach Leigh Manson: “This is the first time this team has lost in 2016, so it will be interesting see now their reaction on Saturday.

“We didn’t have a great performance today, but if we can score the first goal in the next game and prevent them from scoring, then we will stand a good chance.”

Tampines Rovers: Joey Sim, Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic, Shakir Hamzah, Irwan Shah, Jordan Webb, Jermaine Pennant (Sufian Anuar 84′), Izzdin Shafiq, Hafiz Abu Sujad (Christopher van Huizen 82′), Billy Mehmet (Yasir Hanapi 75′), Fazrul Nawaz

Global FC: Patrick Deyto, Charles Pettys, Amani Aguinaldo, Milan Nikolic, Marco Casambre (Jerry Barbaso 46′), Dennis Villanueva (Mario Clarino 39′), Matthew Hartmann, Serge Kaole, Omid Nazari, Hikaru Minegishi, Misagh Bahadoran (Paolo Bugas 74′)