Football
Kenneth Tan 9y

S.League: Kristic extends Hougang United's winless start to season

Hougang United continued their winless start to the 2015 Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League after going down to a 1-0 defeat by Balestier Khalsa at the Hougang Stadium on Saturday evening.

Croatian forward Miroslav Kristic scored 10 minutes from time, to ensure the 2014 RHB Singapore Cup champions take all three points at the expense of the struggling Cheetahs.

Having drawn three and lost three prior to this game, Hougang seemed determined to change their fortunes right from the start.

Having missed the last two games through injury, Japanese forward Takahashi Manato was determined to make up for lost time as he found himself at the end of two opportunities inside the first 15 minutes.

Taking down a long ball from Yuki Uchiyama, he fired a close-range shot right at Zaiful Nizam. Then he headed Fareez Farhan's right-wing cross just wide of the left-hand post.

Balestier settled in thereafter and created a couple of opportunities. Firstly it was Tarik Cmajcanin who got past two defenders before firing a low drive, which forced Hougang keeper Basil Chan to tip wide.

Then Robert Pericic's close-range header somehow went off the bar and over, after Chan had missed his punch on Cmajcanin's free kick.

Hougang did create two good opportunities just before the break, but Uchiyama failed to place his header from Shunsuke Nakatake's corner on target and Fareez's dipping strike from 30 yards was inches away from finding the top-right corner.

The Cheetahs picked up where they left off after the break, with Manato lashing over from outside the box while Fareez and Nakatake tried ambitious shots which went straight to Zaiful.

They should perhaps have gone ahead on 73 minutes when Francisco "Chupe" Ela's right-wing cross evaded the whole Balestier defence en route to substitute Matthew Abraham inside the six-yard box, but the latter somehow managed to scoop the ball wide when it seemed easier to score.

That miss proved costly as Balestier broke the deadlock seven minutes later via one of their own substitutes.

Having replaced Zulkiffli Hassim six minutes earlier, Ignatius Ang got the better of Faizal Amir down the left before squaring across goal for Kristic. The latter coolly evaded his marker before firing an unerring shot into the bottom right corner past the stranded Chan.

That goal sparked wild celebrations from the Balestier bench and eventually proved to be the winner.

Speaking after the game, victorious coach Marko Kraljevic was pleased that his decision to throw on Ang paid off in the end.

"Zul (Zulkiffli) worked very hard, but Iggy came in to change the game for us," he said. "He put a few crosses in and had a few good moments on the ball. It was a good substitution."

Moving forward, he wants his side to build on the winning momentum next Wednesday against Tampines Rovers.

"I'm really happy with this win; everyone worked very hard and we managed to keep a clean sheet," said the 49-year-old. "So far we win one game and lose the next, so I hope we can start to win two games in a row."

Hougang United: Basil Chan (GK), Faizal Amir, Yuki Uchiyama, Kunihiro Yamashita, Lau Meng Meng, Fareez Farhan (Fairoz Hasan 64'), Shunsuke Nakatake, Nurhilmi Jasni (C), Faiz Salleh (Matthew Abraham 64'), Takahashi Manato, Francisco "Chupe" Ela (Kenneth Chang 84').

Balestier Khalsa: Zaiful Nizam (GK); Ahmad Syahir, Igor Cerina, Nurullah Hussein, Ho Wai Loon, Tarik Cmajcanin, Jonathan Xu (Ridwan Jamil 74'), Emir Lotinac, Zulkiffli Hassim (Ignatius Ang 74'), Miroslav Kristic, Robert Pericic.

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