Tampines Rovers vs Warriors FC

(20 September, Wednesday, 7.30pm, Our Tampines Hub)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Warriors FC will look to put an end to a poor run of form in the Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League when they face Tampines Rovers at Our Tampines Hub on Wednesday night.

The nine-time league champions have won only two of their last nine games in all competitions and have slipped to fifth spot in the league standings after a 2-0 loss to Geylang International.

However, Warriors forward Andrei-Cosmin Ciolacu believes that it is only through teamwork that they will get through this rough patch and taste victory again.

“We must give our best in every game because if we give our 100 percent we can beat any team in the league,” said the former Romanian U-21 international.

“We proved that as a team we are strong and everybody saw that we can play good football against Albirex in the League Cup they had some tough moments against us. So if we concentrate and give our best we can definitely cause problems for any team.

“It’s difficult to win if we are too individualistic. Hence, we need to stick together as a team and do the defending and attacking as one in order to win games. After all, the Warriors motto now is ‘One for all, all for one’.”

According to Ciolacu, the defeat to the Eagles has also served as a timely ‘wake-up call’ for the team to perform better and finish the season strongly.

“In my opinion, I try to look at the positive aspect of every defeat,” he shared.

“The performance (against Geylang) wasn’t as what we expected. In that game we didn’t find ourselves playing at our best and unfortunately we lost.

“But there’s nothing much we can do now except to to focus on our next game which is a tough one against Tampines. Hopefully we can play like how we used to and start winning games.

Tampines on the other hand, will come into this brimming with confidence after stringing their third win on the trot with a narrow 1-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa three days ago.

Fazrul Nawaz’s second goal of the season was enough for the Stags as they kept up the pressure on leaders Albirex Niigata (S).

However, head coach Jurgen Raab has seemingly thrown in the towel even though the title is still mathematically possible.

They currently lie second with 40 points from 18 games and have a game in hand over Albirex.

“We have six matches left in the league this season and I have said before that we will fight to finish in second place,” said the German.

“But if we can continue this form and work hard, I believe anything can happen.”

Tampines Rovers – LLWWW

17/09/17 Balestier Khalsa 0-1 Tampines Rovers

12/09/17 Garena Young Lions 0-4 Tampines Rovers

09/09/17 Tampines Rovers 5-1 Hougang United

19/08/17 Albirex Niigata (S) 4-0 Tampines Rovers

13/08/17 Albirex Niigata (S) 2-0 Tampines Rovers (RHB Singapore Cup)

Warriors FC – DLWDL

15/09/17 Warriors FC 0-2 Geylang International

17/08/17 Balestier Khalsa 2-2 Warriors FC

04/08/17 Hougang United 0-1 Warriors FC

29/07/17 Warriors FC 1-2 Albirex Niigata (S)

25/07/17 Home United 1-1 Warriors FC

Head to Head (S.League)

22/06/17 Warriors FC 0-1 Tampines Rovers

01/04/17 Tampines Rovers 0-1 Warriors FC

12/08/16 Warriors FC 2-3 Tampines Rovers

17/05/16 Warriors FC 0-0 Tampines Rovers

30/04/16 Tampines Rovers 4-2 Warriors FC