Football
Kenneth Tan 8y

Brunei DPMM end Tampines streak, top Singapore League Cup group

Brunei DPMM scored a late winner to overcome Tampines Rovers 2-1 in their League Cup Group A clash at Jalan Besar Stadium on Thursday night, ending the 100 percent record of Akbar Nawas since he took over as Stags' coach.

It looked like the match was heading for a draw after Billy Mehmet had cancelled out Adi Said's opener for DPMM. However, Wasps' substitute Azim Izamuddin capitalised on a clanger by Tampines goalkeeper Joey Sim to win the game in the 86th minute.

The result snapped Tampines' eight-game winning streak in all competitions. It means DPMM secured top spot in the group while Tampines finished second, with both teams making it into the last four.

Akbar's men played the better football and carved out more clear cut chances in the first half, but had nothing to show for.

In the 16th minute, Billy Mehmet released Gautam Selvamany through on goal, but the latter could only fire onto the left-hand post with DPMM custodian Wardun Yussof already beaten.

Five minutes later, Gautam expertly spun past his marker inside the box yet could only fire straight at Wardun.

The Stags were made to pay for their profligacy as DPMM went ahead on 24 minutes. Adi whipped home a stunning 20-yard free kick that went in off the crossbar after Fabian Kwok had brought down Najib Tarif.

Steve Kean's side could have doubled their advantage 14 minutes later when Brian McLean connected well with Azwan Ali's inswinging corner. But Sim pulled off a stunning reflex save to tip the header over.

Tampines went close again eight minutes into the second half, with Saifullah Akbar unleashing a powerful volley from just outside the area that had Wardun at full stretch.

The match was then delayed for 40 minutes due to the Lightning Warning System (LWS) before resuming on the hour mark.

Akbar's charges settled back in the better of the two sides and duly levelled matters in the 75th minute. After Jufri Taha was brought down by Yura Indera Putera inside the area, Mehmet stepped up to send Wardun the wrong way from the spot.

The Stags kept pushing forward in search of the winner with Mehmet going close with two efforts from range. Instead, it was DPMM who found the winner with four minutes left to go.

Receiving a back pass from Noh Rahman, Sim made a hash of his attempted clearance on the rain-sodden pitch and that led to Azim stealing in to poke home the winner from 20 yards out.

While disappointed that a winning run since the start of June came to an end in such unfortunate fashion, Akbar refused to blame his goalkeeper.

"We're all humans and humans make mistakes," said the 41-year-old. "I'm sure Joey will be disappointed with himself, but the team and I will back him up.

"To be honest, I wasn't counting [the number of games won in a row]. I believe that's where you lose focus. I could have gone for the results and my own fame all that, but I wanted them to play football.

"What a performance from them. They played their hearts out in such conditions and you can see it is not easy to play against an experienced DPMM side. The younger players lose out a bit physically, but we were giving a run for their money until their second goal."

Meanwhile, DPMM counterpart Kean admitted his side rode their luck to get the three points. "We showed that there's more than one way to win a game," said the former Blackburn Rovers manager. "Tampines set the ball better; we were poor in that aspect and we just could not penetrate.

"Sometimes you can play badly and win, sometimes the ball bounces. We earned that little bit of luck through our doggedness and I'm delighted with this result. We've won four on the bounce now and hopefully we keep this up."

In the concurrent Group A game, Hougang United thrashed Warriors FC 4-1 at Hougang Stadium to finish third, with both sides progressing into the Plate semifinals.

Brunei DPMM: Wardun Yussof (GK), Abdul Aziz Tamit, Yura Indera Putera, Brian McLean, Helmi Zambin, Azwan Salleh (C) (Hendra Azam 10'), Maududi Hilmi (Azim Izamuddin 46'), Najib Tarif, Adi Said, Rafael Ramazotti, Azwan Ali (Shahrazen Said 90')

Tampines Rovers: Joey Sim (GK), Ismadi Mukhtar, Jufri Taha, Noh Rahman (C), Irwan Shah, Fabian Kwok, Jordan Webb, Gautam Selvamany, Saifullah Akbar, Ariyan Malik, Billy Mehmet

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