Balestier Khalsa battled to their first victory of the new S.League season as they edged Geylang International 2-1 at the Toa Payoh Stadium on Friday night.
Striker Robert Pericic gave the Tigers the lead in the 44th minute only for Geylang forward Josef Kaplan to equalise two minutes later. Forward Miroslav Kristic scored the winner in the 79th minute to clinch three points for Marko Kraljevic's side, who had lost 1-0 to Warriors FC in the inaugural game of the 2015 season.
The goals punctuated an otherwise unremarkable game, which was well contested but otherwise lacking in real quality.
The Eagles named an unchanged side from the one that held Home United 1-1 last week. Jorg Steinebrunner's side had the game's first real effort of note when midfielder Tatsuro Inui curled a shot not far off the top left corner in the fifth minute.
The hosts hit back through a dipping 35-yard free kick from Kristic, which was just about dealt with by goalkeeper Yazid Yasin.
The first period was almost about to end without major incidents when the game exploded to life at the stroke of half-time. Geylang's failure to clear their lines in the 44th minute saw the ball fall Pericic's way and his shot took an unfortunate deflection from Hafiz Osman before going in off the post.
Balestier were pegged back two minutes later when Kaplan netted his second goal in as many games. Inui's cross was half-cleared and Anaz Hadee fired the loose ball towards the post. Bruno Castanheira diverted the ball in Kaplan's direction for his captain to volley home.
The game started off slowly again after the break and it took until the 68th minute for a threatening effort to come, with Zaiful Nizam gathering Inui's well-struck free kick. The lively Japanese winger then blasted a good chance hopelessly wide, having done the hard work by coming in from the left and beating his marker.
Geylang would regret not taking those chances as Balestier went ahead with 11 minutes remaining with their first shot on target in the second half. Kristic easily nodded in Ahmad Syahir's cross from close range.
Castanheira then wasted a great chance in the 86th minute to draw Geylang level when he inexplicably side-footed Kaplan's deft cut-back over the bar from 10 yards.
Kristic could have wrapped up the win in the final minute but his shot came back off one post and then the other, although it didn't matter ultimately as time ran out for Geylang to salvage anything.
Kraljevic was delighted that his side finally picked up three points, having lost both their opening games in the league and AFC Cup. "The first win is the most important -- it will give the team a lot of confidence in the games to follow," he said in his post-game news conference. "We worked very hard throughout the game and I think we deserved the win."
Kraljevic was also happy that both Kristic and Pericic finally got off the mark for the club and was "very confident" his two strikers would go on to shine. "It's always good for strikers when they score goals. When the goals are not coming they will lose confidence. But tonight it was the perfect start for them."
Steinnerbruner was not too happy about his team's defensive display. "Possibly we could have avoided the loss if we had been a little bit more decisive, because the two goals were, in my opinion, the result of slack defending. I'm disappointed but we now have to regroup and prepare for the next game against Hougang United."
Balestier Khalsa lineup: Zaiful Nizam (C), Hanafi Salleh (Yusiskandar Yusop 27'), Igor Cerina, Nurullah Hussein, Ho Wai Loon, Ignatius Ang (Ahmad Syahir 75'), Emir Lotinac, Tarik Cmajcanin, Zulkiffli Hassim (Fadhil Noh 72'), Robert Pericic, Miroslav Kristic.
Geylang International lineup: Yazid Yasin, Anaz Hadee, Hafiz Osman (Khairulnizam Jumahat 48'), Kento Fukuda, Yuki Ichikawa, Hafiz Nor, Shah Hirul (Mustaqim Manzur 82'), Nor Azli Yusoff (Syed Thaha 60'), Tatsuro Inui, Jozef Kaplan (C), Bruno Castanheira.