Eagles snap 11-game winless run with hard-fought 1-0 victory over Tanjong Pagar

Geylang International finally halted their 11-game winless streak with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Tanjong Pagar United at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) on Sunday. 

Vincent Bezecourt’s fifth minute goal was enough to give the Eagles their first three points since their opening season victory over Lion City Sailors, the reigning Singapore Premier League champions.

Despite remaining in seventh place in the eight-team standing with 10 points from 13 games, Geylang International’s Head Coach Noor Ali hailed his charges’ character after they grinded out their second win of the season so far.

“I’m very proud of my boys. We tried to finish off the game with a second goal, but that proved elusive. But that has been the tale of the season so far, and we can only keep improving to get better. 

“For today, what’s most important is we finally got another three points which will be important for our confidence going forward from here,” said Noor.

The Eagles got off to a promising start as early as the fifth minute when Bezecourt fired them into the early lead with a cheeky lob over a stranded Zharfan Rohaizad after a defensive error by Faritz Hameed.

The Eagles continued to threaten the Jaguars’ goal, and it took a brilliant save from Zharfan to deny Takahiro Tezuka from doubling their advantage after the Japanese was put through on goal by Umar Akhbar in the 18th minute.

Zharfan was equal to the task again when he made another point-blank save to palm away Sime Zuzul’s stinging shot in the 43rd minute.

After heading into the break with a slender one-goal advantage, the Eagles resumed play in the second half, looking dangerous on the attack again.

Sime Zuzul was gifted with another opportunity to put the Eagles further ahead in the 57th minute. The Croatian had the goal in sight but opted to pass the ball to Bezecourt, who fired his shot over the bar.

A nasty challenge on Zuzul by Faritz then saw a scuffle breaking out in the 66th minute, resulting in two yellow cards for Faritz and Blake Ricciuto.

Mirko Sugic thought he had put the Jaguars on level terms with a powerful header that was well blocked by Zaiful with 13 minutes of regulation time remaining.

The Eagle continued to repel waves of attack from Tanjong Pagar to finally hold out for a long-awaited victory.