Eagles outclass Tanjong Pagar United

Geylang International continued their resurgence as they beat Tanjong Pagar United 3-1 at the Jurong East Stadium to move up to fifth place in the Singapore Premier League on Sunday.

The Eagles took control of the early possession before Ilhan Noor scored his first professional goal with a header off a cross by Barry Maguire that was flicked onto him by Matheus Moresche to give Geylang International the lead in the 13th minute.

A howler by Shakir Hamzah, put under pressure by Amy Recha, then extended the Eagles’ advantage as he nodded back into his own net in the 35th minute. Recha launched another swift attack on the left flank two minutes later, combining effectively with Moresche. Moresche’s strike was latched onto by Ilhan, who showed his quality in front of goal again by slotting the ball into the back of the net, extending Geylang International’s lead to 3-0 before they headed into the break.

The Eagles continued where they left off in the first half by starting strongly again. Another neat build-up by Moresche and Recha threatened the Jaguar’s goal, and the Brazilian looked to have extended Geylang’s lead but had his goal ruled out for offside in the 59th minute.

Luiz Junior then pulled a goal back for the Jaguars against the run of play in the 62nd minute, where he breached the Eagles’ back-line to give Tanjong Pagar United a lifeline. However, the Eagles put up another assured performance in the last 30 minutes to secure their fourth win of the season.

Head coach Noor Ali said: “It’s nice to have back-to-back wins after such a long time. It’s important to have that winning feeling again, especially when we want to continue doing well in the last eight games.

“We could have scored another two or three goals, and that’s something we have to get better at. Even if we are leading by three goals, we must learn to kill off the game. But overall, we did very well defensively in the second half.”

Lineup: Hairul Syirhan, Ilhan Noor (Christopher van Huizen 46), Danny Kim, Amy Recha, Barry Maguire, Matheus Moresche, Asshukrie Wahid (Umar Akhbar 86), Faizal Roslan, Yuki Ichikawa (C), Afiq Yunos, Elijah Lim (Izzdin Shafiq 74)