Written by: Muhammad Yazid

Geylang International emerged 2-0 winners over Woodlands Wellington on Friday night, and coach Jorg Steinebrunner could not have been happier with the scoreline.

“I would have been disappointed if the players did not turn up tonight; I am happy with the overall performance,” the German said.

“In the three-week break after the Balestier Khalsa game, we had some good sessions and individual talks, which was a contributing factor to tonight’s victory.

“Credits to both teams for putting up a good performance and it was a high-intensity game.”

Steinebrunner believed that the two goals by Aliff Shafaein and Ridhuan Muhammad were quality goals created from effective teamwork.

“Good work by Hafiz Nor and Ridhuan Muhammad from the right side to create the first goal. There was speed, accuracy and good pass-and-move work. Aliff was at the right place and the right time and it was a great team goal,” he praised about the opening goal, before describing about the second.

“Second goal, it was a great through ball by Fabian Kwok and the timing, pace, and good finishing of Ridhuan got us the goal.”

However, the ex-Woodlands coach was disappointed that his side could not extend the lead after 2-0.

“2-0 with three minutes on the clock is a dangerous scoreline. To be honest Woodlands did not look like scoring, but if they had a freak moment and they scored, it could have been game over because from then on, anything is possible,” he shared.

“We could have scored more goals because we had some good chances towards the end of the game. We should have been more clinical.”

His counterpart, Salim Moin decided to put the defeat aside, and applaud the performance of his team.

“I enjoyed watching my team play because there was the attacking flair and we had numbers in attack,” the gaffer commented.

“We dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and created chances. Whenever we lost possession, we immediately closed the players down and regained possession.

“It is all about decision making. When we train I always tell them to be more precise and positive in passing.”

“With 3-5 minutes to go, we did come up with some chances and if we were sharper, we could have reduced the deficit.”

The former national player also singled out Stefan Milojevic for making a comeback to action after a long injury.

“Whenever he had the ball, there was quality everywhere. He was decisive in his passing and had awareness,” he complimented his ‘good service of penetrative passes’.