Close but no cigar

There were 7 minutes away from reaching their first finals of the Singapore RHB Cup last week but like they also say the ball is always round and anything can happen.

DPMM FC were 3-1 up on aggregate earlier by the first 45 minutes before Home United staged a miracle and dumped DPMM FC out of the tournament. Roy O’Donovan and Rodrigo Tosi have given DPMM FC the luxury of a two goal cushion but Sirina Camara scored a crucial goal before half time and it went down hill after the break.

DPMM FC ended losing 4-3 on aggregate after coming off in a 1-1 draw in the first leg.

“I got to agree that it is very disappointing but in every game you got to learn from it and most of the players have never been in this situation before, the semi-final of this cup, but I told my players that we have done so well in the league and we need to bounce back against the Warriors,” said Steve Kean, DPMM FC head coach, in the post-match conference last week.

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“When we were defending high against the quick players, (especially) when we dropped back, what happened in front was the midfielders started to track all the players but the back four drops and they (Home United) got players like Lee (Lee Kwan Woo) and Qiu (Qiu Li) who have the abilities to open up the game when they have the space. They did not have that space in the first-half,” he said.

Tosi challenges the ball in their 3-2 defeat against Home United last week in the Singapore Cup. Image courtesy of S•League

DPMM FC’s Azwan Ali in action last week in the 2nd leg of the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup. Image courtesy of S•League.

Back in the S•League matches, Balestier Khalsa’s Goran Ljubojevic scored a penalty for the crucial victory. DPMM FC still hold a 5 point cushion lead from last night’s result between Balestier Khalsa and Home United. Image courtesy of S•League.

It was a relief that Warriors FC failed to gain any points last night against the resurgent Balestier Khalsa FC who scored a late penalty through Goran Ljubojevic. This means that DPMM FC lead (46 points) maintains by 5 points over next rivals Warriors FC, Albirex Niigata FC and Home United (41 points). Tonight Home United or Tampines Rovers FC have the chance to close the gap for any chance to catch up with DPMM FC. A draw won’t do them any favour indeed.

DPMM FC will take on Warriors FC at Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium next Tuesday. Let’s hope for a much needed home win and with four games remaining, it’s DPMM FC’s title to lose now.

In other news, DPMM FC has a new ambassador for the isotonic drink YOU•C1000 and he will be featured in advertorials for the said product. Recently there was handover of the poster from Katherine Hii whose company distributes YOU*C1000 isotonic drink to DPMM FC full back Sairol Sahari