Written by: Khalis Rifhan

Tampines Rovers went down 5-0 against Kitchee Sports Club in an AFC Cup Group H match at Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday night, but Stags coach Salim Moin is determined to surge on and optimistic that his players would pick up pointers from this match that will come in handy in their upcoming matches.

Jorge Tarres Paramo netted twice before the interval, and Chan Man Fai added the team’s third minutes after the restart. Second half substitute Xu Deshuai grabbed Kitchee’s fourth goal before the hour mark and Juan Carlos Belencoso snatched the final goal in injury time.

“It’s a first time experience. Kitchee played very good football and I hope my players can learn something from them,” said Salim after the match.

“I take this as a lesson and I lost to a better team. It’s just the beginning of the season and I hope the team will get back the momentum and rest assured, come four or five matches, you will see a different team,” added the former Singapore international.

The scoreline did not surprise Kitchee’s coach Alex Chu Chi Kwong who explained that he had been formulating his strategy for weeks prior to their tie against Tampines.

“I am not surprised as we are ready for a month. I watched Tampines play against Hong Kong team South China and we have a chance to look at the team and analyse it. We trained on artificial pitch in Hong Kong almost everyday,” revealed Alex.

Tampines started with only Aleksandar Duric upfront as their marquee signing Miljan Mrdakovic was suspended for the tie after picking up two yellow cards in their Asian Champions League play-off match against South China earlier in the month.

Chu felt his side benefited from Mrdakovic’s absence and added; “The players did a good job in the match. They only played with one striker. We are lucky as if they played with two strikers, it will be more difficult for our team. So we only have to focus on Duric and so it was easy for us.”

Tampines will be back in action on Saturday as they host Courts Young Lions at Clementi Stadium before travelling to Myanmar to take on Naw Pyi Daw in their next AFC Cup match on 12 March.