To add more variety to the SailorFanTalk website, there will be more and more articles written by guest writers. Ernest takes over the writing of this article. Enjoy!
I’m here to write the post-match article while Eddy and Chin Heng rest up from their trip to Brunei. Whew, I’m glad that’s over. It has since been confirmed that DPMM’s next home game will be held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, which was empty when our 2 friends (and Anatoliy – that’s 3 of them!) visited when the game was originally scheduled to be played.
As alluded to by Eddy in his match preview, we have an advantage to play a game in a “neutral” venue against a potential title contender. Our opponents had to travel to Singapore and play in front of virtually no home fans. The last time they played at their home stadium in 2019, they only lost once at home and won the league. A silver lining if you ask me – perhaps silver for them this season. [Editor’s note – well played, you cheeky bastard]
With a localised Albirex this season, the race for the top places could be closer than before and DPMM are a decent side that should not be underestimated. Coming into this game we were the only 2 sides left with a perfect record (albeit having played 2 games, while pretenders BG Tampines sit top after 4 games), so something had to give.
Thy-off
LCS and neutral fans alike were excited to see Lennart Thy’s debut, and we were treated to it from kickoff. He may have been a bit of an unknown quantity to the local audience, which is why the official SPL broadcast’s lineup graphic was confusing, to say the least. I’m sure Thy has the technical qualities to cut it as a number 10, but he was to be our focal point for this game.
With Bailey Wright’s suspension, we started our foreign players in attack in a positive-looking side. Bart played between the lines, with Shawal and Maxime on either side of him. We purred over the trio’s brilliance against Young Lions, with Thy thrown in the mix we now have the most formidable attack in the competition (on paper).
Lennart managed to clock 60 mins for this game, and despite not scoring I was impressed with his aerial prowess and two-footedness. Why the misses? Perhaps it was the Jalan Besar turf or the outstanding saves from Naumovski. There were 3 notable chances, when Lestienne put him clean through for a 1 on 1, a point-blank header from an Obren cross, and a left-footed volley from a knockdown. We needn’t be worried though, Thy has proved his ability to get on the end of good deliveries, and with the quality of his teammates the early signs are great. The floodgates will open.
It’s worth noting that the man he was signed to replace, Richairo Zivkovic, did not register against DPMM on his debut but scored against Albirex in the next game. Will lightning strike twice? Here’s me making an early prediction of a brace from our number 9.
Negative Football
DPMM set up to defend from the off, as reflected in the full-time stats above. We had more shots on target than they had attempts. They relied on individual brilliance to move up the field, which to their credit their quality of players was on show – more on that later. While LCS had many golden opportunities in the opening half, DPMM’s major talking points would have been the brilliant saves the goalkeeper made and some unsavoury challenges that threatened to boil over.
My first half notes read like this:
- Bart sitter 6 mins
- 11 mins first chance for thy, obren cross
- Contentious penalty call 15 mins
- 19 mins thy chance, straight at keeper
- Maxime took too long on 22 mins
- 23 mins red card decision
- 24 mins Thy chance
It was all one way traffic, and despite DPMM’s tactics we fashioned many chances that should have been converted. The goalkeeper put on such a performance that during the interval, fellow fan Brandon quipped that there was probably witchcraft involved (haha). Believe what you will but we certainly had to keep up the momentum to have any chance of leaving with 3 points.
An aspect of the game I did not enjoy was the time-wasting involved. It felt like DPMM were not here to play football and a draw would have been a great result for them. The match officials certainly did not help matters, with lengthy VAR checks on the goals and ridiculous red card claims. We ended up with more bookings than our opponents which did not reflect the nature of the game.
DPMM were not without their merits. Eyebrows were raised when they announced the signings of Julio Cruz and Miguel Oliveira, and they proved their quality here once again. Despite constant heckling from the Crew after an early coming together with Hami Syahin, I was personally impressed with Oliveira’s efforts. He came up with what would prove to be DPMM’s best chance in the first half, nutmegging Obren on the right wing before a sumptuous cross across the face of goal that fortunately evaded everyone. Had that been converted we might have been talking about another result today.
The Mexican Julio Cruz then almost scored the best goal of the season thus far, with a left-footed knuckleball from all of 30 yards. Zharfan was off his line and the frame of the goal saved his blushes. A few inches lower and we would have conceded. It wouldn’t look out of place in a crossbar challenge compilation. Other than this, he acquitted himself well against the imposing Lionel and El Sicario, sometimes bringing the ball down and laying it off for his teammates, despite the attention of our No.4 and 5.
Chances Go Begging
Such was the quantity and quality of chances missed that I was begging the football gods for a miracle at half-time.
Early in the first half, the quality of our attacking quadruplet was evident. Maxime dinked a delightful ball which eliminated 3 defenders instantly. Our No.10 then had time to control the ball mid-air, turn and face the goalkeeper, another defender left in his wake. Surely this was an early lead?
The footballing gods had other ideas though, with Bart’s volley clipping the bar on the way over. We had 2 other strikers in his vicinity who would have pounced had there been a rebound. DPMM soon realised their mistakes, defending deeper as the game went on. Almost on cue, it started pouring soon after, and I’m not just referring to the rain.
These did not result in a goal either.
Better Late Than Never
The goal would come on 86 minutes, with Shawal converting with his trademark acrobatics. The hang-time this guy can achieve is ridiculous. I believe it takes vision to score goals like these, whereas run-of-the-mill strikers will wait for the ball to drop. The goal came from an inswinging cross from Datkovic, after Van Huizen made space on the overlap. The delivery caused confusion in the box and Shawal reacted first to volley us in front. Toni went to celebrate with the bench, such was his relief. I would name Shawal as the MOTM, aside from the goal and assist he progressed the ball well and was an outlet whenever we looked to move up the field. His performance vindicated his on-field captaincy in the later stages of the game after Hariss Harun was substituted.
Let’s savour the goal one more time. Thanks again to @clamment.c for capturing this glorious shot!
After this goal, the Bruneians were visibly distraught. They set up to keep a clean sheet, and when that went out the window, what do they do now? There was still time for a worldie yet. Step forward Maxime Lestienne.
To leave so much space for a player of his quality is an invitation for disaster. It proved to be the second goal and the final nail in the coffin. Magic Max was not to be denied his crowning moment. It was a frustrating game, with him creating the most chances from open play (6), but with no end-product. I am fascinated by his ability to strike the ball with little to no follow through, which makes for an aesthetically-pleasing shot. The game was truly done and dusted, the points were headed home to Bishan.
Conclusion
The Sailors are now the only team left with a perfect record, and that bodes well for the season ahead. We have a run of games coming up and with the squad starting to gel, the immediate future looks bright.
Next up, we face our traditional rivals Albirex, who haven’t had a great start to their campaign. All signs point towards another positive result for us, and perhaps goals for our new striker on his home debut!
Photo Credits: Lion City Sailors FC, Singapore Premier League, @clamment.c
Written by Ernest Cheong
Edited by Eddy Hirono
