Velez sends Warriors top

SINGAPORE - S.LEAGUECOURTS YOUNG LIONS 2

(Muhaimin Suhaimi 76, Sahil Suhaimi 90+2)

WARRIORS FC 3

(Nicolas Velez 30, 61, Marin Vidosevic 65)

Despite a late charge from the Courts Young Lions, the eight-time S.League champions held on for a 3-2 win in the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night.

The result sent Warriors to the summit of the table after nine games with 20 points.

While the Warriors could lose top spot with Brunei DPMM and Tampines Rovers playing tonight, it was a pleasant piece of news for head coach Alex Weaver during the post-match press conference.

When asked his thoughts on overtaking DPMM, the Englishman said: "I hadn't realised that! It's nice, but it doesn't mean much right now as we have to focus on what's coming next. "Of course, we want to try and stay at the top.

"The Young Lions have a run-all-night attitude and, even though they're struggling at the moment, they don't fold.

"It's very difficult coming here and they gave us a strong fight, so it was a very good result for us."

The game was as entertaining and open as the five-goal scoreline suggested, with both sides creating numerous chances.

OUTSTANDING

However, the Young Lions could not find the clinical touch for most of the game to beat an outstanding Hassan Sunny in the Warriors' goal.

The visitors drew first blood after 30 minutes, when Nicolas Velez pounced on a deflected pass to poke the ball under Syazwan Buhari.

The strike was nearly ruled out for offside after linesman Daniel Wong raised his flag, but he was quickly overruled by referee Irwan Samsuddin.

Velez then completed his brace on 61 minutes, when he slammed home a squared ball from strike-partner Miroslav Pejic to cap off a flowing Warriors move.

While the Young Lions gifted Warriors their third after Faris Azienuddin sloppily conceded a corner from which Marin Vidosevic converted in the 65th minute, Aide Iskandar's charges did not give up.

After pulling one back through substitute Muhaimin Suhaimi in the 76th minute, the Young Lions ensured a nervy finish for Weaver's men when Sahil Suhaimi curled an exquisite free-kick into the top corner two minutes into stoppage time.

While he felt a draw would have been a fair result, Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar was pleased with his side's never-say-die attitude despite going 3-0 down.

"The boys showed they can compete and it was pleasing to see that they didn't give up," said the former Singapore skipper.

"We played against a better team, so we have to give credit to Warriors.

"We didn't play that badly and we weren't outplayed, but that's football."

COURTS YOUNG LIONS: Syazwan Buhari, Fadil Kamis, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Faris Azienuddin, M Anumanthan, Shamil Shariff (Iqbal Hussain 77), Stanely Ng (Muhaymin Salim 69), Amirul Azmi, Sherif El-Masri (Muhaimin Suhaimi 62), Jordan Webb, Sahil Suhaimi

WARRIORS FC: Hassan Sunny, Jeremy Chiang, Zulfadli Zainal, Marin Vidosevic, Daniel Bennett, Kevin McCann, Thomas Beattie, Hafiz Rahim, Irwan Shah, Nicolas Velez (Chang Guo Guang 78), Miroslav Pejic (Hafsyar Farkhan 85)

TNP Man of the Match: Miroslav Pejic

OTHER RESULT:

Harimau Muda 3 Hougang 4

This article was published on April 25 in The New Paper.

Get The New Paper for more stories.