Written By: Kenneth Ho

Tampines Rovers coach V.Sundramoorthy wants his side to increase the pressure on the teams above them in hopes of mounting a late title charge.

Following a 3-1 win over Courts Young Lions on Wednesday evening, the Stags reduced the point difference with league leaders Brunei DPMM to eight, with a game in hand.

While it kept alive Tampines’ faint hopes of earning their first league title since 2013, Sundram believes they would still require a favour from the other contenders to win the league.

“It (winning the title) depends on the other teams, but we should start to win games and we should definitely put pressure on the leaders,” Sundram asserted.

“It’s not in our hands, but we need to keep track of what’s happening. More or less we should start to win and we will see how the season goes.

“Football is a funny game… so let’s see how the other teams play against DPMM and Albirex (Niigata (S)).”

Sundram also shared his satisfaction at seeing the Stags hit three past the Young Lions, especially after they had went behind in the 20th minute due to Shameer Aziq’s strike.

“The thing is when we went one goal down, it’s going to be tough, I won’t lie,” he explained.

“The Young Lions started brightly and scored the goal which gave them confidence, but against the run of play, we scored the equaliser that turned the game around.

“If you looked at the chances, we could have scored one or two more.”

Young Lions coach Juergen Raab shared his disappointment after a bright start by his side proved to be a false dawn.

He admitted he had raised hopes of the Young Lions securing their first home win this season following Shammer’s opener but mistakes at the back led to yet another defeat on home ground.

“I think we started well with the first 30 minutes. Very good football and we dominated the match and created some chances to score a brilliant goal,” Raab said.

“I was hoping we could get our first win but our problem and I think you saw it, we were too naive in defence.

“Today there was no feeling we could change this match, it was a deserved defeat for us.”