Noor readies charges for Singapore Cup battle

Geylang International head coach Noor Ali believes the experience of fighting their way to a creditable fourth place in the AIA Singapore Premier League season will stand his men in good stead for the Singapore Cup.

The Eagles, who at one point endured an 11-match winless run and placed second last on the eight-team standings, capped a splendid comeback by holding champions Albirex Niigata to a 1-1 draw in their final league game at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) last Friday.

Noor now hopes his battle-hardened players are ready to stamp their mark in the Singapore Cup, which makes a welcome return this week after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Eagles, the one-time winners in 2009, will be aiming to at least match their third-place finish three years ago.

But to do that, they must first overcome a tricky Group B challenge that features also defending champions Tampines Rovers, Tanjong Pagar United and Hougang United who finished third, fifth and sixth respectively in the league.

Only the top two teams will advance to the knockout stage.

Geylang will kick off their campaign with a much-anticipated Eastern Derby against the in-form Tampines at OTH on Friday.

“We’ve got a tough group to deal with, but anything can happen in the cup competition,” said Noor, filled with optimism.

“We did well the last time Singapore Cup was held, so we definitely want to pull off another creditable feat to complement our league outing.

“At one point, it was akin to us battling in a war zone each week in the league as we were fighting to get ourselves out of the bottom two.

“The boys showed true grit and perseverance to put us back on track and eventually finished fourth.

“Such experience will definitely help us in our Cup campaign. I’m convinced that the boys are much stronger mentally now.”

Geylang will seek their first win over Tampines after failing to beat them in all their four league encounters, with the heaviest defeat being 4-1 at OTH.

The 0-0 stalemate earlier this month marked the only time The Eagles avoided defeat against The Stags.

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