3 corners kicks and a penalty kick helped leaders Tampines Rovers beat Albirex Niigata at Jurong East Stadium 2-4 this evening.
At the 14th minute, a well-worked routine from the corner kick saw former White Swan, Seia Kunori, lost his marker, Junki Kenn Yoshimura. Kunori swept the ball past Hassan Sunny to give Tampines the lead.
Hassan gave the ball away in a bad position to Captain Ho Wai Loon, who had to bring down a surging Saifullah Akbar in the penalty box at the 32nd minute. Tampines striker Kopitovic tucked away the penalty to give Tampines a 0-2 lead going into half time.
The 2nd half kicked off with a flurry of goals.
A long punt by Shuhei Hoshino at the 49th minute saw fellow striker Shingo Nakano shrugged off the challenge of another ex White Swan Shuya Yamashita to go one v one against the Tampines keeper. Syazwan brought Nakano down but Arya Igami was on hand to tap home the rebound. If the ball did not go into the net, the referee would probably need to send Syazwan off.
However, the comeback was short-lived as Tampines scored through a corner kick again. Centre back Koki Kawachi's feeble attempt to put off Yamashita was futile as Yamashita rose high to give Tampines a 2 goal lead again in the 53rd minute.
4 minutes later, another corner kick routine extended Tampines' lead to 1-4. Yasir Hanapi was left with acres of space at the left side of the penalty box and gleefully scored past Hassan.
Unlike previous matches, the White Swans did not fold up this time. Left back Gareth Low sent a sumptuous cross into the box and Nakano rose high to power his towering header over Yamashita to reduce the deficit.
The White Swans huffed and puffed to look for another goal but Tampines held firm until the final whistle.
It was a much improved performance from the White Swans after a series of calamitous performance and results. However, they would need to turn their good showing into points to move out of bottom place.
Their next opportunity to do so would be against Young Lions on 4 Aug (Sun) at Jurong East Stadium at 6pm.
At the 14th minute, a well-worked routine from the corner kick saw former White Swan, Seia Kunori, lost his marker, Junki Kenn Yoshimura. Kunori swept the ball past Hassan Sunny to give Tampines the lead.
Hassan gave the ball away in a bad position to Captain Ho Wai Loon, who had to bring down a surging Saifullah Akbar in the penalty box at the 32nd minute. Tampines striker Kopitovic tucked away the penalty to give Tampines a 0-2 lead going into half time.
The 2nd half kicked off with a flurry of goals.
A long punt by Shuhei Hoshino at the 49th minute saw fellow striker Shingo Nakano shrugged off the challenge of another ex White Swan Shuya Yamashita to go one v one against the Tampines keeper. Syazwan brought Nakano down but Arya Igami was on hand to tap home the rebound. If the ball did not go into the net, the referee would probably need to send Syazwan off.
However, the comeback was short-lived as Tampines scored through a corner kick again. Centre back Koki Kawachi's feeble attempt to put off Yamashita was futile as Yamashita rose high to give Tampines a 2 goal lead again in the 53rd minute.
4 minutes later, another corner kick routine extended Tampines' lead to 1-4. Yasir Hanapi was left with acres of space at the left side of the penalty box and gleefully scored past Hassan.
Unlike previous matches, the White Swans did not fold up this time. Left back Gareth Low sent a sumptuous cross into the box and Nakano rose high to power his towering header over Yamashita to reduce the deficit.
The White Swans huffed and puffed to look for another goal but Tampines held firm until the final whistle.
It was a much improved performance from the White Swans after a series of calamitous performance and results. However, they would need to turn their good showing into points to move out of bottom place.
Their next opportunity to do so would be against Young Lions on 4 Aug (Sun) at Jurong East Stadium at 6pm.
