Written by: Nigel Chin

Tampines Rovers vs Courts Young Lions
(Saturday, 19 September, 7:30pm, Jurong West Stadium)

Tampines Rovers will be aiming for nothing less than three points when they take on Courts Young Lions at the Jurong West Stadium on Saturday evening.

A win will take the Stags back into fourth spot in the league standings and right into the thick of the title race. Currently, they trail league leaders Brunei DPMM by eight points, but they have two games in hand.

In their last game, they dispatched Harimau Muda with ease. Rodrigo Tosi netted a hat-trick while strike partner Mateo Roskam notched a brace as the Stags emerged 5-1 victors.

Coach V. Sundramoorthy wants his charges to repeat that performance against the Young Lions as they look to build on their momentum.

“For us, [getting] the three points against the Courts Young Lions is a must,” Sundram said.

“We need to keep the pace with the leaders, and getting the three points would mean that we are throwing ourselves about for the title.”

However, the task will not be a simple one.

In the first meeting both sides this season, Tampines had to grind out a narrow 1-0 win, with Roskam netting late in the second half.

While the Young Lions have lost two straight games as well, they have proved themselves to be a tough nut to crack with their new brand of possession based football.

However, what they do lack is experience – something which Tampines have in abundance.

With the season coming to its last stretch, the Stags will no doubt be giving their all as they try to catch up with the league leaders, and that experience may turn out to be the main difference between both teams on Saturday.

Key Men to Watch
Tampines Rovers: Rodrigo Tosi

Last season’s S.League top scorer may have found the going hard this season with Tampines, but seem to have finally found his stride after netting his first hat-trick of the season.

Against the Young Lions, Tosi’s ability to score or create for his teammates will be crucial to the Stags’ hopes of getting maximum points.

Should the Young Lions fail to keep an eye on the Brazilian, they may be in for a long, tough night.

Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari
Against a Tampines team expected to dominate and create chance after chance, the goalkeeper and captain of Young Lions will be key to his team’s hopes of coming away with a result.

A proven shot-stopper at this level, how much Syazwan can prevent the ball from finding the back of the Young Lions’ net will undoubtedly decide the outcome of the game.

Tampines Rovers – LWDWW

15/09/15         Tampines Rovers 5-1 Harimau Muda (S.League)
27/08/15         Harimau Muda 0-1 Tampines Rovers (S.League)
21/08/15         Tampines Rovers 0-0 Balestier Khalsa (S.League)
13/08/15         Tampines Rovers 1-0 Brunei DPMM (Singapore Cup)
10/08/15         Brunei DPMM 3-1 Tampines Rovers (Singapore Cup)

Courts Young Lions – WLWLL

27/08/15          Courts Young Lions 0-2 Home United (S.League)
23/08/15          Brunei DPMM 2-0 Courts Young Lions (S.League)
20/08/15          Geylang International 1-3 Courts Young Lions (S.League)
06/08/15          Courts Young Lions 0-1 Albirex Niigata (S) (S.League)
03/08/15          Harimau Muda 2-3 Courts Young Lions (S.League)

Head To Head (S.League)

05/03/14         Tampines Rovers 1-0 Courts Young Lions
23/05/14         Courts Young Lions 1 – 2 Tampines Rovers
01/03/14         Tampines Rovers 3 – 2 Courts Young Lions
06/08/13         Courts Young Lions 2 – 4 Tampines Rovers
28/02/13         Tampines Rovers 3 – 0 Courts Young Lions