The Courts Young Lions are eyeing a return to winning ways in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League on Thursday night when they take on Hougang United in an away clash.
Juergen Raab's charges might have lost five of their last seven matches, but things are not as bad as it seems, as they put in commendable displays against heavyweights Brunei DPMM (twice), Albirex Niigata, Home United and Tampines Rovers.
The Young Lions' performances have picked up in general, after coming under the charge of Raab in mid-season and attacker Shameer Aziq asserts they will persist with their positive, short-passing style of play, despite heading to Hougang Stadium on the back of two successive losses to DPMM and Tampines.
"Defeats like both of these are never easy to take, especially at home and especially after the way we played," he admitted to ESPNFC. "However, the team morale has always been at a high [and it remains so].
"No matter the result, the coach has always told us to play the way we always do. We do not change the way we play."
One bright spot was the 19-year-old netting the team's sole goal in each of those defeats.
"It was a huge relief to finally get my first goals for this season," he acknowledged.
"I've been played on the flanks mostly before that and did not have many chances to score. But after a miss I had against Home in a recent game, I [was determined to] make sure I would put my next chance in the back of the net."
The Young Lions can also draw confidence from their impressive away record -- all five of their victories this season were picked up from their last six matches on the road.
A 2-0 loss to leaders DPMM is the only blemish; Home and Warriors FC were slain during that run and the Stags became their latest victim two weeks ago.
"Taking our away form into consideration, I think the team can bounce back and hopefully get another win away from home and close the gap on the teams above us in the table," said Shameer.
Salim Moin's Cheetahs have won only twice in seven home games, but should possess relatively fresher legs after last Friday's clash with Geylang International was postponed due to the haze.
Meanwhile, Jordan Webb returns from suspension for the visitors, although influential playmaker Adam Swandi will play no further part as he is due to enlist for national service.
Victory will see the Young Lions leapfrog them into eighth spot -- winning by more than one goal will see them move seventh -- and Shameer is hopeful it will be third-time lucky against the team he made his S.League debut for.
"I always look forward to playing Hougang as it is my former team," he said. "We drew in the first game of the season and then lost at home against them. This time, we just have to stick to our game-plan, try to keep the ball and attack at the right time."
An over-eagerness to build on their lead against the Stags on Sunday cost the Young Lions in a 3-1 loss and Shameer is keen for them to learn their lesson.
"We went on the attack too often and after the goal, most of us were already tired," he reflected. "So, we have to learn and conserve our energy [better] this time round."
Hougang United Probable Lineup: Ridhuan Barudin, Faizal Amir, Kunihiro Yamashita, Delwinder Singh, Lau Meng Meng, Nurhilmi Jasni (C), Carlos Delgado, Atsushi Shimono, Fazli Jaffar, Diego Gama, Vuk Sotirovic
Courts Young Lions Probable Lineup: Syazwan Buhari (C), Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli, Faris Azienuddin, Farhan Rahmat, Safirul Sulaiman, M. Anumanthan, Shameer Aziq, Afiq Mat Noor, Jordan Webb, Shahfiq Ghani