Albirex Niigata (S) concluded their 2015 Great Eastern Yeo's S.League campaign on Friday with a 1-0 win over Hougang United at the Jurong East Stadium.
Fumiya Kogure emerged the hero for the White Swans, grabbing the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the second minute to hand his side maximum points.
With the victory, Albirex moved up into third place and will definitely finish in that position should Balestier Khalsa lose to title-chasing Brunei DPMM FC on Saturday evening.
Having had their hopes of a top-two finish extinguished by a 1-0 loss to Tampines Rovers in their last match, Albirex entered Friday's game looking to end their season on a high.
Just twenty seconds into the game, they were handed the perfect opportunity to get off to a dream start as they were awarded a penalty after Shun Inaba was brought down inside the box by Fazli Jaffar.
It was Kogure who stepped up to the spot and he had no problem keeping his composure, slotting past Ridhuan Barudin into the bottom corner to open the scoring.
With a one-goal advantage, the hosts continued to dominate proceedings and the Cheetahs had to rely on goalkeeper Ridhuan to keep them in the contest.
First, he made a brilliant save in the 18th minute to keep out a Rui Kumada header, before reacting well to tip over a dangerous corner from Kogure five minutes before the half-hour mark.
Hougang did, however, come out for the second half with renewed determination and Muhaymin Salim was just unable to force the ball over the line seven minutes after the break, while opposition keeper Yosuke Nozawa did brilliantly to keep out Vuk Sotirovic's ferocious free kick in the 63rd minute.
Still, the White Swans always looked like the likelier of the two teams to strike next, and Kogure was unlucky not to add to his tally three minutes later when his sublime free kick came back off the post.
Although their failure to grab a second goal meant the visitors were always in with a chance of snatching the draw, Albirex ultimately did enough to hold out for the three points to end the campaign in winning fashion.
Tatsuyuki Okuyama's charges will next turn their attention to the RHB Singapore Cup, as they take on Philippine outfit Global FC in the second leg of their semi-final next week holding a 1-0 aggregate lead.
Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa, Mikiya Yamada, Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba, Yusuke Mukai (Rion Taki 67'), Fumiya Kogure Atsushi Kawata, Rui Kumada (Kento Nagasaki 82')
Hougang United: Ridhuan Barudin, Faizal Amir, Delwinder Singh, Kunihiro Yamashita, Lau Meng Meng, Ruzaini Zainal (Diego Gama 79'), Tengku Mushadad (Faiz Salleh 73'), Atsushi Shimono, Fazli Jaffar, Carlos Delgado (Vuk Sotirovic 51'), Muhaymin Salim
