Late heartbreak for the Eagles
Kristijan Krajcek scored for Hougang United in injury time to break Geylang International’s hearts as the Eagles lost 3-2 at Jalan Besar Stadium to mark their fifth defeat of the Singapore Premier League season.
Noor Ali’s side put up a gallant fight for long spells, coming back twice in the game and looked set to salvage a draw before Croatian winger Krajcek beat Hafiz Ahmad from close range in the 92nd minute.
Geylang International found themselves a goal down as early as the first minute after Jordan Vestering shocked the visitors with a powerful effort from outside the box.
Naufal Azman, who came in for the injured Huzaifah Abdul Aziz, equalised just before the half-time whistle when he headed home after the Cheetahs failed to clear their lines from a corner.
In the 81st minute, Gabriel Quak put the home side back in front as he took full advantage of the penalty kick awarded after Rio Sakuma was deemed to have handled the ball in the box.
Naufal then delivered for the second time in the evening with yet another header in the 87th minute for Geylang to pull level again.
“Very disappointed, but that’s football,” lamented head coach Noor Ali.
“We just got to move on and how to improve on the next game.
“It’s the same thing (that happened to the game against Lion City Sailors) I think that we didn’t take our chances well.
“Except for the first goal, there wasn’t much threat from Hougang. We had clear-cut chances but we didn’t take them and we got punished.” Geylang United are now fifth in the league and will face Tanjong Pagar next on May 21.
Ends.