Eagles’ unbeaten run ends with derby loss

Geylang International’s seven-game unbeaten run came to a halt after they suffered a 4-1 loss to derby rivals, Tampines Rovers at Our Tampines Hub on Wednesday evening.

The Stags drew first blood when Boris Kopitovic put his name on the score sheet for the 21st time this season with another precise strike that found the bottom left corner in the 17th minute.

The Eagles went in search of the equaliser and were by far the more dominant side with Sime Zuzul a constant threat in front of goal then. However, when they were able to breach the Stag’s defence, they were denied by the woodwork thrice in the dying minutes of the first 45 minutes.

When play restarted, Vincent Bezecourt almost levelled proceedings for the Eagles in the 57th minute when his pile-driver shot was palmed away by Syazwan Buhari.

Geylang International were then caught off guard after a definitive mix-up in the 70th minute presented Zehrudin Mehmedović with the opportunity to slot in the ball into an open goal.

Zuzul then broke free from the shackles of his markers to score his 11th goal of the season, giving the Eagles a glimmer of hope of any comeback.

However, a thunderous strike by Kyoga Nakamura into the top left corner three minutes before regulation time followed by a brace from Kopitovic in stoppage time eventually seal all three points for Tampines Rovers.

Geylang International Head Coach Noor Ali said: “The boys gave their best tonight but unfortunately, we fell short tonight. Tampines took their chances while we could have done better. This is football and we can only look ahead and move on.”

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