Albirex beat Geylang to go top of S.League standings

Title chasing Albirex Niigata (S) dislodged Warriors FC at the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League summit after beating Geylang International 2-0 at the Bedok Stadium on Sunday evening.

Goals in each half by Fumiya Kogure and Atsushi Kawata meant the White Swans ended their two-game losing streak in the league. They also claimed their third successive win against Geylang in all competitions this season.

However, the gloss was taken off a bit from the Japanese side's victory when substitute Kento Nagasaki was sent off at the stroke of full time for his involvement in an off-the-ball incident.

Geylang created the first opportunity of the night after barely a minute on the clock, but captain Jozef Kaplan was only able to fire his shot into the side netting.

Albirex then settled in, with Rion Taka and Shun Inaba sending their respective efforts wide. They duly took the lead in the 16th minute when Kogure curled home a free kick from 25 yards out, after Geylang's Japanese defender Kento Fukuda had brought down an Albirex attacker.

There was very little action in the final third during the remaining part of the first half. However, at the stroke of half time, Fukuda rose the highest to meet Inui's outswinging corner, but his resulting header was hacked off the line by an alert Mikiya Yamada.

That defensive clearance proved to be vital as Albirex doubled their advantage inside the first five minutes of the second half.

Kawata sent Kogure racing down the right flank and the latter repaid the favour by cutting an intelligent ball across the box for the former to slot home a first-time finish past the stranded Yazid Yasin in the Geylang goal.

That sealed the victory for the White Swans who managed to hold on despite Geylang applying incessant pressure in the remainder of the second half.

The match ended on a slightly sour note for Tatsuyuki Okuyama's men when Nagasaki, who was only on the pitch for six minutes, was given the marching orders by referee Jansen Foo just before the final whistle.

Despite the sending off, the Albirex tactician was happy that his side managed to return to winning ways after successive losses against Balestier Khalsa and Harimau Muda.

"In the last two matches, we played our normal game but were unlucky," he said. "In this game we simply focused on what we had to do and we did our best, so I'm very happy."

Geylang coach Jorg Steinebrunner lamented the costly errors that led to his side conceding the two goals.

"For the first goal, we gave the free kick away near our box," said the German. "For the second, we lost the ball in midfield. Two mistakes and two goals, but did you see how many chances we had and who were the more active team?"

Geylang will seek to reverse their fortunes against Brunei DPMM at Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday. Albirex will look to continue their stay on top of the standings when they take on Courts Young Lions at the Jalan Besar Stadium a day later.

Geylang International: Yazid Yasin (GK), Anaz Hadee, Yuki Ichikawa, Kento Fukuda, Syed Thaha, Nor Azli Yusoff, Khairulnizam Jumahat (Mustaqim Manzur 73'), Hafiz Nor, Jozef Kaplan (C), Tatsuro Inui (Shafeeq Faruk 81'), Shawal Anuar

Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa (GK), Mikiya Yamada, Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara (C), Itsuki Yamada, Shun Inaba (Kento Nagasaki 84'), Hikaru Mizuno, Rui Kumada (Hikaru Yanagawa 79'), Atsushi Kawata, Rion Taki, Fumiya Kogure (Yusuke Mukai 90')