Written by: Muhammad Yazid
Warriors Football Club’s Miroslav Pejic first half penalty was enough to seal victory for Alex Weaver’s side and send Woodlands Wellington tumbling to their first defeat in this season’s Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League.
Woodlands were constantly torn apart with attacks right from the go and they had custodian Yazid Yasin to thank for keeping them in the game early on with his crucial saves.
A cross from Shi Jiayi from the left was met by Pejic, who agonisingly finished it just above the crossbar in the second minute.
Pejic’s precise touches throughout the match were too much to handle by the Woodlands defenders, but the men in green denied Pejic and company time and space whenever necessary.
The hosts came close to scoring in the 25th minute when Pejic whipped in a delightful inswinging corner which was dealt well with by Yazid who punched the ball away to safety.
Although Yazid could do nothing about Thomas Beattie’s follow-up snapshot, Woodlands were fortunate that the latter’s attempt only hit the crossbar.
A minute later the Rhinos did find the back of the net, only for it to be ruled offside. Marin Vidosevic rose the highest to head in a cross which was acrobatically saved by Yazid, and the ball fell into the path of Pejic who had the simplest of tasks of heading it into the bottom corner of the net from an offside position.
A penalty would then put Warriors into the driving seat against a very stubborn Woodlands defence in the 33rd minute.
Andy Ahmad struck the ball with his hands in the 18-yard box and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Up stepped Pejic and the Croatian sent Yazid the wrong way to score his sixth goal of the campaign.
After a half which was mainly dominated by the Warriors, the second half turned in favour of the Rams, who started creating sparks in the attack.
A quick exchange of passes between South Korean compatriots Moon Soon Ho and Chang Jo Yoon led to the latter releasing a cross from the right which was cleared into the path of his striking partner, who unleashed a half-volley which bounced off the ground and landed safely into Neezam Aziz’s pair of hands.
The final ten minutes of the game saw Woodlands trying to force an equaliser as the South Korean strikers each had a glorious opportunity to prevent their team from tasting defeat.
Moon saw his thunderous finish eight yards out from the right hit the side netting while Chang’s left-foot effort whizzed past the upright in the dying moments of the game as the Rams fell to their first defeat of the season.