Courts Young Lions midfielder M. Anumanthan is on a mission to salvage lost pride for his team in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League, as he guns for a sixth win against Geylang International.
The U23 side recorded a miserable four points in seven matches before halting their domestic league commitments in preparation for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
There was no silver lining at the end of the road as the Singapore side were ousted in the group stages in what was a poor SEA Games tournament for the hosts.
However, things have started coming together for the Young Lions since their return to S.League duties, collecting 15 points from 13 games to climb off the foot of the table.
"We are determined to put behind the (SEA Games) failure and look forward to improving ourselves" said Anumanthan.
"It (our improvement) is all down to the passion and commitment from the coaches and players. We go out there every day to learn something new and push ourselves further."
While the Young Lions will go into Sunday's game at Jalan Besar brimming with confidence after a 2-2 draw against Hougang United on Thursday, they will have to be wary of a Geylang side that are desperate to secure three points and move away from the foot of the table.
Anumanthan, who is likely to start in midfield alongside Afiq Noor has warned against complacency, knowing that a slip in concentration could lose them the game.
He added: "Geylang is not a team that we can take lightly. They have a good team that can surprise us so we have to take this game seriously, regardless of who starts the game.
"Their captain [Jozef Kaplan] is one of the tougher players I've come up against in the S.League because he is very experienced and can hurt us, so we have to restrict the space given to him."
With Bruno Castanheira and Kaplan scoring 13 of Geylang's 18 league goals this season, head coach Jorg Steinebrunner will be hoping the rest of the players can help take the burden of the duo's shoulders against the Young Lions.
They will be hopeful having drawn their last two league games against Warriors FC and Balestier Khalsa, but must not allow a repeat of their 3-1 loss to the Young Lions last month, where Kaplan's early goal was canceled out by a brilliant comeback from the visitors.
Anumanthan who anchored the midfield in that game, is ready to do it all over again but cautioned his teammates that it will only happen if they execute Juergen Raab's game plan perfectly.
"I have confidence that we can (beat Geylang)," noted the 21-year-old. "We have been working hard in training and will continue with our football philosophy in a good (passing game) style.
"As for my personal target, it is to play as well as I can for the club to secure a return to the national team again."
Courts Young Lions Probable Lineup: Syazwan Buhari, Fadli Kamis, Amirul Adli, M. Anumanthan, Farhan Rahmat, Afiq Noor, Shameer Aziq, Jordan Webb, Safirul Sulaiman, Shahfiq Ghani, Sherif El-Masri
Geylang International Probable Lineup: Yazid Yasin, Khairulnizam Jumahat, Kento Fukuda, Nor Azli Yusoff, Anaz Hadee, Mustaqim Manzur, Shah Hirul, Tatsuro Inui, Hafiz Nor, Bruno Castanheira, Jozef Kaplan