Eagles fall to late sucker punch in Eastern derby Singapore Cup clash

Geylang International were denied at least a share of the spoils after Kyoga Nakamura struck deep into stoppage time to give Tampines Rovers a 3-2 win over their eastern rivals in their Group B clash of the Singapore Cup on Friday evening.

Geylang International Head Coach Noor Ali admitted it was a ‘bitter pill to swallow’ and rued it as a lapse of concentration after his team had courageously come back from two goals down and were hoping to see out the match for at least a draw before the Japanese struck to break the hearts of the home team.

“We basically gave away two soft goals and were let down by a momentarily lapse of concentration in injury time. We actually kept Tampines quiet for much of the second half and I thought the boys were simply brilliant to fight back from two goals down when they finally snatched the equaliser with just two minutes to go in regulation play.

“But this is football and we can only hope to do better in our next game against Hougang United next Tuesday,” said Noor.

The Stags took the advantage as early as the third minute when Faizal Roslan turned a cross from Boris Kopitovic into his own net. The Eagles then went in search of the equaliser with Huzaifah Aziz firing a shot that went just off the bar in the ninth minute before Sime Zuzul’s fierce drive was well blocked by Syazwan Buhari in the 28th minute.

But all their possession and attacking threats came to nought as Tampines doubled their lead in the 43rd minute after Ong Yu En was brought down by Faizal inside the penalty box. Kopitovic, the AIA Singapore Premier League top scorer, would make no mistake in slamming his spot kick pass Zaiful Nizam.

The Eagles came back charging after the break and got their goal with Sime Zuzul pulling one back for Geylang after capitalising on a loose ball in the box in the 68th minute.

Khairul Hairie then made an immediate impact after coming on as a substitute for Huzaifah in the 83rd minute. Within five minutes, Khairul got the equaliser for the Eagles after his strike off a cross by Hazzuwan Halim went into the back of the net which led to wild celebrations for the home fans.

But that proved short-lived as Nakamura’s long-range strike into the bottom corner in the 91st minute meant the Stags would go on to secure all three points.

Ends.