Written by: Khalis Rifhan

Geylang International coach Jorg Steinebrunner extended praises to his players for an improved showing against Warriors FC despite crumbling to a 1-0 defeat in the teams’ second meeting for the season.

Alex Weaver’s side won 2-1 in their first encounter earlier this season but the Eagles proved to be a tough nut to crack this time around. Steinebrunner’s men could have snatched a point from the match had it not been for the superb form of Hassan Sunny in goal for the Warriors.

“We had too much respect (for the opponents) in the first half,” said Steinebrunner.

“We talked about it at half-time and I put a few harsh words on them. If we want to play football, we can’t play shadow football. We need to work on them and need to close them down.

“In the first half, in my opinion we were playing too many long balls. In the second half we kept the ball more on the ground and started to play football,” added the Eagles tactician.

While Steinebrunner wished his team had been more clinical in front of goal, he is pleased with his charges for responding to his half-time team talk.

“There was a big difference. Aliff in the second-half after 10 minutes, one-on-one (with Hassan Sunny) and if he had scored that, then probably it would be even more tied up,” the German commented.

“But I think credit to the team how they come out in the second-half, we were the better and energetic team.

“They had once chance but we had good chances. We have closed the gap performance wise, we are on the right track.”

Despite the Eagles coming away without a point, they earned the applause from his Warriors FC coach Alex Weaver.

“Credit to Geylang, Jorg has come in and done a good job to steady the ship. I know what that feels like in terms of that responsibility coming into a club and turn things around,” explained Weaver after the match.

Turning his attention to the match, Weaver refused to single out a player for their win and instead paid tribute to all in the team.

“Hassan played well, so did everybody else. We played positively from the start like we normally do. We defended from the front and tried to press hard, quick and aggressively.

“The players did extremely well, defensively and going forward. We created some good chances and probably should have won by more (goals),” added the Englishman.