Written by: Kenneth Ho
After a convincing 3-1 win over Pune FC, Tampines Rovers coach Salim Moin reiterated his belief in his squad’s capability.
Having gone a goal down early on, the Stags rallied to overcome the Indian side with three goals to earn their first win and points in Group H.
“As I said during the last press conference, I’ve always said that after the game with Geylang [a 3-0 victory], my team and I always strongly believe that they are able to play (show) a good performance so tonight, they showed the fans what the real Tampines Rovers are,” said Salim.
“All the players played very well, credit to the team, and they followed the instructions well. You can see that the most important thing is they were keeping the ball possession very confidently, that is most satisfying.
“I quote what I said the last time: my team will get better after four or five matches. I am not trying to boast, how many matches have we played? So you can see the true champion team.
“So I hope they can be very consistent, that is very important for me. I am enjoying watching [them play]; the minute they keep ball possession, it’s not easy to get it from them because they are quality players. I trust and I have faith in them.”
With the three points in the bag, Salim was adamant his team would fight to progress to the knockout stages of the AFC Cup.
“At the last press conference, I said that we would never say die and keep on fighting, so tonight they fought very hard,” he said.
Salim’s counterpart Mike Snoei was disappointed with his side’s performance against Tampines after they scored the first goal but did not managed to hold onto the lead.
“We started well. We scored the first goal from a penalty. Then the other team made it difficult for us,” Snoei stated.
“They played more forward [passes] because it was 1-0 for us and we came into trouble. You can say it was individual mistakes, I can see that.”
He added: “When you play back to your goalkeeper, and this rule already exists for many years, you cannot pick it up. The third goal was the same. We gave it away too easy.”