Eagles take the wind out of Sailors’ sails

Geylang International could not have asked for a better start to their 2022 Singapore Premier League campaign after securing a sensational 1-0 win over reigning league champions Lions City Sailors at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) on Friday.

New signing Vincent Bezecourt’s sole strike in the ninth minute was all it took for The Eagles to record their remarkable first victory against the Sailors after 15 attempts.

The Eagles last savoured success when they thumped then Home United 4-1 at OTH in October 2016.

The victory was certainly sweet for the Eagles after having conceded 11 goals in two defeats – 8-0 and 3-0 – to champions when they hosted them at OTH in April and September, respectively, last year.

Noor Ali’s charges ensured history was not about to repeat itself with a battling performance from the get-go. It didn’t take too long for Noor’s charges to make their presence felt when winger Hazzuwan Halim fired his left-foot strike wide to the right on the seventh minute.

But the boisterous home crowd of nearly 1,000 was not to be disappointed once again as barely two minutes later, French midfield maestro Vincent Bezecourt beat custodian Izwan Mahbud with his brilliant right-foot strike from outside the box.

Bezecourt could have doubled the advantage had he managed to retrieve a clever long pass from left-back Faizal Roslan in the 22nd minute.

It wasn’t until the 25th minute that the Sailors finally had a crack at the goal, but Faris Ramli failed to get his shot on target after combining well with Song Ui-Yong from the centre.

Not to be outdone by Bezecourt, Croatian hotshot Sime Zuzul showed the fans what he is capable of when he made a lovely turn and beat two defenders before sending a great cross, only to be intercepted Izwan.

The Eagles’ hopes of securing three points were handed a further boost after their fierce rivals were down to 10-man when centre-back Pedro Henrique was sent off for a professional foul on Zuzul in the 33rd minute.

In the second half, the Sailors finally brought in their three big guns – Kim Shin Wook, Diego Lopes and Maxime Lestienne – but none of them could make any difference.

Geylang had their newly-appointed captain Zaiful Nizam to thank as he pulled off several excellent saves for his side to cling on to the slender lead.

The most notable one came in the 65th minute when denied Lopes a clear scoring opportunity.

Noor said the early goal was crucial to his side’s victory and believes the champions paid the price for underestimating them.

“We have never gone into the lead against them actually, but we have to go into the match believing that we can actually take the three points. I thought we started well, we got the early goal that we wanted, and we could have scored another one in the first half.

“They did not start with their strongest team, probably thinking that against Geylang, it could be three points in the bag already,” said Noor.

Noor Ali was also pleased with how his charges withstood the attacking threats from the visitors in the second half.

“In the second half, we sat a bit deep knowing the that they’re going to beef up their attacking power by bringing in Diego, Max and Kim. But credit to the boys, they defended very well. It was definitely a good result for us even though it was against 10 men because they clearly have plenty of quality options at their disposal,” added Noor.

Lineup: Zaiful Nizam (C), Fadli Kamis, Takahiro Tezuka, Hazzuwan Halim (Umar Akhbar 86’), Sime Zuzul, Vincent Bezecourt, Huzaifah Aziz, Rio Sakuma, Ahmad Syahir, Faizal Roslan, Khairul Hairie (Fareez Farhan 62’)