Courts Young Lions picked up their second victory of the season after upsetting defending champions Warriors FC 2-0 in their Great Eastern Yeo's S.League clash at Woodlands Stadium on Thursday.
In what was the final game of the season to be played at Woodlands -- Warriors move back to Choa Chu Kang Stadium after this match, second half goals from Jordan Webb and Fadli Kamis ensured the developmental outfit collected all three points to improve their chances of moving up the table.
Reeling from the 3-1 defeat against Hougang United three days ago, Juergen Rabb's charges were determined to make amends from the start as Sherif El-Masri lashed over from range after just six minutes.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had to cope without the services of Tom Beattie, Miroslav Pejic and Nicolas Velez. The latter was replaced by Azlan Abdul Razak after sustaining a knock during the warmup.
The home team's first opportunity at goal came in the 12th minute when Hafiz Rahim found Fazrul Nawaz with a gorgeous pass, but the latter was unable to keep his attempted lob down.
Alex Weaver's men gradually settled into the game towards the end of the first half, but Hafsyar Farkhan and Karlo Ivancic failed to put their shots on target.
Both sides made changes at half time, with Andy Ahmad coming on for Azlan Abdul Razak while Farhan Rahmat replaced Faris Aziennudin for the Young Lions.
The breakthrough eventually came 13 minutes after the restart as Warriors custodian Daniel Ong flapped at El-Masri's inswinging corner, which allowed Webb to nod it gleefully into an empty net.
The Warriors reacted to the setback by introducing Kevin McCann and the substitute nearly made an instant impact, when he found himself inches away from connecting with Ivancic's searching cross.
However it was the away side which sealed the victory with four minutes left. Right-back Fadli strode onto a defence-splitting pass from substitute Afiq Noor before curling high past a stranded Ong in the Warriors goal.
The result meant the Young Lions are now just three points adrift of ninth-place Hougang United with three games in hand, while the Warriors remain a point ahead of nearest rivals Brunei DPMM at the top of the table.
Speaking after the game, victorious coach Rabb was pleased that his side managed to recover from a poor start to get the morale-boosting win.
"In the first half, we didn't play that well," he acknowledged. "So I told them to remember how they played passing football against Hougang on Monday and they did it in the second half.
"This win is very important for our confidence and I hope we can continue to play in the same way."
Meanwhile a visibly disappointed Weaver admitted that his side did not play well enough to get a result.
"We had a defensive mix-up for the first goal, but credit to the Young Lions tonight," he said.
"They were energetic, put a lot of pressure on us and did enough to prevent us from creating good chances. I'm disappointed with the loss, but (other) teams will drop points over the course of the season so we have to regroup now and move forward."
Warriors FC: Daniel Ong (GK), Emmeric Ong, Daniel Bennett (C), Marin Vidosevic, Irwan Shah, Hafsyar Farkhan (Kevin McCann 64'), Azlan Abdul Razak (Andy Ahmad 46', Hamqaamal Shah 73'), Shi Jiayi, Hafiz Rahim, Karlo Ivancic, Fazrul Nawaz
Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari (GK, C), Faris Azienuddin (Farhan Rahmat 46'), Amirul Adli, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Fadli Kamis, Sherif El-Masri, Ammirul Emmran (Afiq Mat Noor 59'), Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, Suria Prakash (Amy Recha 82'), Adam Swandi, Jordan Webb