Yeo Kheng Hui
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| Photo: ST He Photography |
Jordan Webb 39', Azhar Sairudin 59'
SAFFC 2
Mislav Karoglan 33', Shimpei Sakurada 68'
The ex-Warriors captain was happy with the 2-2 draw against his former side which extended their unbeaten streak to nine games, while Richard Bok was happy with a point as well. "I thought it was a good game; I'm satisfied with the point," explained SAFFC coach Richard Bok after the game.
"Overall, we had good movement, we worked well down the flanks, and we took our goals well."
"In terms of our play, I'm satisfied with the way we played. I hope we can continue or improve in the Cup game," noted Bok, referring to the coming semi-final against Gombak United.
Even with Hougang United only a point behind, Bok was not overly concerned about SAFFC's league position.
"I just wanted the team to go out and play a good game of football," explained Bok. "If the result goes our way, good; if not, at least the performance has to be there. I think we achieved that in terms of performance."
He did, however, express concern about the manner in which the Cheetahs snatched an equaliser to stay in the game.
"It is always a key moment just after one team has scored. There is a tendency for the other team to want the goal back, and we just didn't close them down quick enough. Hopefully we can address that," noted Bok.
Bok was not unduly concerned that his players would be tired out for their Singapore Cup game, noting that Gombak United would also have a match to play before the first leg of their Cup tie.
Hougang United, on the other hand, would have the luxury of a long break - three weeks, to be exact - before their coming 'Cup ties' against title contenders Harimau Muda and Brunei DPMM.
"We have to try to stay fresh and positive for these two last [league] matches. It looks like we will be involved in deciding the championship," chuckled Hougang coach Nenad Bacina.
"We have not planned any trips overseas," Bacina revealed. "It is the end of the season, and it will be hard to keep the players focused. I will give the boys a few days off first, then we might arrange a friendly in the last week."
"It will not be easy, but it is a good challenge to us to play against top teams and so far, we [have] proved we were able to upset all of them," said a satisfied Bacina.
"We stopped Home United, drew 1-1 with Tampines and beat Albirex, so we are looking forward to DPMM and Harimau Muda."
The Croatian also felt that the result on the night against SAFFC was fair.
"We have to say it's fair because both teams scored two goals. We have to be proud because this is our 9th game undefeated," he claimed.
"Of course, I know the boys are also quite sad because we didn't win the game although we were leading 2-1. Somehow, we didn't manage to stop them, but against top-class players like these it is always hard."
"If you give players like Inui the time and space, they will definitely send [in] a good cross," reflected Bacina. "We used to have Sobrie on this side doing the covering, but he had just switched with Webb before, who isn't really used to this. I guess that is a slight tactical mistake on my part."
Bacina was at least relieved that the recent trend of conceding late goals had been stopped.
"I was a bit worried about that, but at the same time I was a bit confident that maybe we could score a late goal.
"At the end of the day, of course, I have to give full credit to my players. I think they showed desire and good fighting spirit." (SOURCE)
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