Gutsy Eagles hold White Swans to 2-2 draw

Ten-man Geylang International produced a gutsy performance to hold Albirex Niigata to an entertaining 2-2 draw on Tuesday night at Our Tampines Hub (OTH).

The Eagles had to come from behind twice, with goals from Sime Zuzul and Hazzuwan Halim denying the White Swans all three points. 

Zuzul again took centre stage as the Croatian forward netted his third league goal for Geylang in the 31st minute with a superb solo effort.

Having delighted the crowd by scoring after one boot had slipped off last Saturday, he impressed once again by cancelling out Tatsuya Zambongi’s second-minute opener. This time, he left his three markers trailing in his wake before firing his shot pass Koga Takahiro into the bottom right corner.

However, the joy lasted just three minutes as Masahiro Sugita restored the lead soon after when his long-range thunderbolt strike took a deflection off Abdil Qaiyyim, leaving Zaiful Nizam with no chance.

On a night where scoring opportunities appeared hard to come, Geylang International rode on their clinical finishes to secure a morale-lifting equaliser through Hazzuwan two minutes just before half-time.

Hazzuwan was not going to waste the chance as he nodded home a superb assist from Fadli Kamis after the latter made a great effort to win a long pass from Rio Sakuma from their half.

It turned out to be Hazzuwan’s last yet crucial contribution of the night as he had to be stretched out in the 54th minute due to muscle injury.

For the second match running, Geylang had to play with one man less for a large part of the second half after Faizal Roslan was sent off. The centre-back was handed a straight red card after he appeared to have hit Nicky Melvin Singh in an off-the-ball incident.

Albirex were left kicking themselves for failing to convert a number of their chances in the final 30 minutes of the match, with the Eagles having their skipper Zaiful to thank for pulling off at least four fine saves to rescue a deserving point for his side.

Noor Ali will take plenty of positives from the match as it was the first time they had taken a point off from Albirex after six matches.

“I’m very proud of my boys. Anyone who watched the game can see the hunger and fire they had to get a result. They fought for every ball, and each one of my boys worked hard and did not give up. We worked as a team, especially so when we were a man down. 

“You cannot take anything away from the boys tonight,” said Noor.