Football
Teo Teng Kiat 9y

Precious: SRC ready to bounce back against DPMM in League Cup

Former Singapore international Precious Emuejeraye is looking for his Singapore Recreation Club (SRC) teammates to display more belief when they face Brunei DPMM in the TNP League Cup on Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The National Football League (NFL) Division 1 side suffered a 4-0 defeat in their opening game on Tuesday against Geylang International, which means they need positive results in their remaining Group A matches against DPMM and Hougang United to have any chance of qualifying to the semifinals.

That prospect appears unlikely against the three Great Eastern Yeo's S.League teams, but Precious firmly believes that the "ball can bounce either way".

The Nigerian-born centre-back took heart from the way SRC managed to shut out the Eagles in the second half, after conceding all four goals before the break.

"It was okay, at least to me; we played better in the second half," he said as he reflected on their performance to ESPN FC after the game. "They had chances in the first half but it was not as if the margin between them and SRC is that great... we made silly mistakes and they punished us.

"I spoke to the boys [about DPMM]... yes, they are a big team, but we must have that belief.

"This is football. We just have to be like how we played in the second half, because we controlled the game, but we [just] couldn't score."

The 32-year-old pointed out that the pressure will be on their Bruneian counterparts, who suffered a surprise 1-0 loss on the same night to the Cheetahs at Hougang Stadium.

The game against Geylang was his debut for SRC, having been signed by Ramoo Tharmaretnam a few days ago specifically for their League Cup campaign.

Before that, Precious was turning out for Putrajaya SPA FC in the second-tier Malaysian Premier League, having been released by Home United after one season at the end of 2014.

He had little trouble adjusting to his new teammates though, which included former S.League players Shariff Samat and Firman Hanif.

"You just have to bring in your game - if you have that football knowledge, you can adapt anywhere," said the towering defender, who won over 60 caps with the Lions and helped them to the 2007 AFF Championship.

Precious will need to draw on all that experience when he faces a Wasps attack that will be hungry for goals, led by S.League top scorer Rafael Ramazotti and the talented Paulo Sergio.

But he asserted that his side will be more than ready mentally to face the Cup holders, as he again highlighted the importance of having faith.

"They are thinking of bouncing back and will never give up; at the end of the day, we will just keep fighting," he said.

"Nobody sustained injuries and we are all fit, so we just come back and just try to give our best.

"Hopefully we can get a point - that is what we are looking for, just a point. If we can win, get the three points by chance, that'd be great."

Brunei DPMM Probable Lineup: Wardun Yussof, Aminuddin Zakwan, Boris Raspudic, Brian McLean, Sairol Sahari, Joseph Gamble, Hendra Azam, Rosmin Kamis (C), Azwan Ali, Paulo Sergio, Rafael Ramazotti.

Singapore Recreation Club Probable Lineup: Zainol Gulam, Zulkarnain Malik, Shariff Samat, Precious Emuejeraye, Faliq Sudhir (C), Khyruddin Khalid, Samuel Balls, Firman Hanif, Zamri Kamal, Anders Aplin, Michael Hemmingway.

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