How sweet it is for Weaver

He insisted he bore no enmity towards his former employers.

But the expression of delight on Alex Weaver's face suggested otherwise, after he led his Warriors FC side to a 2-1 victory over Hougang United in a Great Eastern-Yeo's S-League encounter last night.

The Englishman took on the Hougang job at the start of the season, but after just one win in six matches, he was relegated to an "observer" role.

He then left the Cheetahs to take the reins of the Warriors in June, after V Selvaraj's resignation.

The fact that the victory was achieved at Hougang Stadium was not lost on Weaver, who quipped: "This is actually my first game here (at Hougang Stadium)!

"My first six games with Hougang were all played either away from home or at the (neutral venue) Jalan Besar Stadium."

When pressed on whether the victory was sweeter because of who the opposition were, he said: "Even my wife has been asking me that question this past week.

"But, all the frustration I had was gone as soon as I got the Warriors' job. From that point on, I was just focused on my new team."

Marin Vidosevic gave Warriors a dream start when he found the net after 22 minutes.

The big Croatian centre back showed he was not averse to scoring spectacular goals, hooking the ball over his head and into goal off a corner.

Mislav Karoglan extended the visitors' lead from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute, after Erwan Gunawan was tripped in the box.

Hougang came storming back but Fazli Jaffar's effort 12 minutes from time was chalked off for offside.

Irony

It was too little too late when Cheetahs substitute Fairoz Hasan pulled one back for the home side in the 88th minute.

There was even more irony last night as the man who replaced Weaver was not even on the Hougang bench.

Cheetahs coach Johana Johari relinquished control of the first team on Wednesday, handing the reins over to caretaker coach Amin Nasir.

Former National Football Academy and Singapore Sports School coach Amin claimed he did not know the official reason for Johana's relegation, and was only told by the club management that the suspended coach was "taking a rest".

Amin preferred to focus on the positives, when he said: "I'm pleased with the character of the boys because we kept attacking even when we were two goals down.

"You could see their determination to fight back and they didn't give up, but the goal we scored came just a bit too late.

"I'm not sure how long I'll be in charge and I'm taking it one game at a time."

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