Football
Gabriel Tan 9y

S.League: Albirex fail to claim top spot after defeat against Young Tigers

Harimau Muda returned to winning ways in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League on Thursday after recording a shock 1-0 win over second-placed Albirex Niigata (S) at the Jurong East Stadium.

Faizat Ghazli was the hero for the Malaysian outfit as he scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute, ensuring his side bounced back from their 2-0 loss to Balestier Khalsa in fine fashion.

For the White Swans, they only have themselves to blame after falling to a second straight loss since winning the TNP League Cup, especially considering the amount of possession they had throughout the 90 minutes.

Atsushi Kawata was unlucky not to fire them into the lead after eight minutes when he beat opposition goalkeeper Ilham Amirullah to Fumiya Kogure's corner, only to see his powerful header come back off the bar.

Shotaro Ihata then had a couple of excellent opportunities to strike but his finishing let him down, as he blazed over from two yards with only Ilham to beat before sending a free header way off target shortly after.

And seven minutes after the hour mark, the visitors duly broke the deadlock when Faizat found the back of the net with a header from six yards out, after Syahrul Azwari did brilliantly to break free down the right and find the striker with an inch-perfect delivery.

Despite mustering a final effort to find the equaliser, the White Swans were just unable to carve out any chances and it was Harimau Muda who were left celebrating the win at the final whistle.

"I'm quite surprised we managed to beat them finally after so many meetings," said Harimau Muda coach Razip Ismail.

"They are one of the top teams in the league but I told my players to not give up even though we were under a lot of pressure from the beginning.

"We kept on fighting and after we scored, I'm very pleased with how the players defended."

Meanwhile, Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama admitted his side would soon have to recover from their hangover after winning the TNP League Cup.

"The problem is our mentality since we won the League Cup," he lamented. "That is the main thing we have to improve on."

Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa, Mikiya Yamada, Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Shun Inaba, Hikaru Mizuno, Fumiya Kogure, Atsushi Kawata, Rion Taki (Rui Kumada 85'), Shotaro Ihata (Kento Nagasaki 70')

Harimau Muda: Ilham Amirullah (Farhan Abu Bakar 46'), Ashmawi Yakin, Syawal Nordin, Annas Rahmat, Azrul Nizam Muhammad (Faris Shah Rosli 90'), Irfan Zakaria (D. Kenny Pallraj 89'), Adam Nor Azlin, Syahrul Azwari, Faizat Ghazli, Syazwan Andik, Arif Anwar

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