SINGAPORE – Despite leaving two of their leading scorers Dejan Racic and Sahil Suhaimi out of the starting XI against their former club Hougang United, Geylang International displayed enough firepower to beat the Cheetahs 3-0 on Oct 26 to return to the top of the Singapore Premier League (SPL) table.

After five games, the Eagles have racked up four wins and a draw for 13 points, one more than second-placed Tampines Rovers, who have a game in hand. Geylang also boast the league’s best defensive record with just two goals conceded.

Eagles coach Noor Ali sprang a surprise when he dropped Racic and Sahil, who had scored three and two goals respectively after four games.

Instead, he placed his trust in a golden-haired front three – former North Korea youth international Ryang Hyeon-ju, and Japanese attackers Ryoya Taniguchi and Kaisei Ogawa – who combined for just two goals before the match at Our Tampines Hub.

Both goals were scored by the effervescent Ryang, who added to his tally in first-half added time when he swooped in to find the net after Hougang skipper Zulqarnaen Suzliman tried to intercept Darren Teh’s cross but failed to get enough weight on his chested pass to goalkeeper Ridhuan Barudin.

It got better for the hosts eight minutes after the restart when Taniguchi split the ball-watching Hougang defence with a superb through-ball for Ogawa to finish clinically.

By contrast, the visitors were disappointing at both ends.

After making a promising start to the season when they led 2-0 against champions Lion City Sailors before drawing 2-2 in their opening game, they have scored only twice more in four consecutive losses, and had just pot shots from range by Ayman Kassimi and Saifullah Akbar to show for against Geylang.

In a nascent season that has already yielded three red cards for Hougang, there were further signs of frustration in a feisty match when defensive midfielder Mahame Siby was booked for aggressively slamming the ball into the ground after a decision did not go his way around the hour mark.

Montenegrin centre-back Milos Drincic then became the fourth Hougang player to be sent off this season when he received his second booking in the 75th minute for pulling Racic, who came on as a substitute.

Cheetahs coach Akbar Nawas shed his peak cap and cut an exasperated figure on the touchline as the Hougang faithful in the stands sang self-deprecatively, “we’re s*** and we know we are”.

Hougang did show more threat as Lucas Cardoso struck the bar with a free-kick while Jordan Emaviwe headed just wide, but Geylang added the icing on the cake with Ryang completing his brace in added time following a counter-attack for his fourth goal this season.

Eagles coach Noor, who praised Ryang for his exemplary displays, was also pleased with how his team have been able to rotate their attackers effectively and kept up the intensity for 90 minutes.

He added: “Tonight, we did better than the 0-0 draw against Balestier in our last game, but we can still do better because we can’t afford to miss chances like we have done when we play Tampines and Sailors next . After we play them, we will know where we stand .”

Frustrated Hougang fans made their feelings known after the match, as they gave the team a piece of their mind, demanding a better performance before applauding them off the pitch.

Akbar said the team need to reflect, adding: “The moment we concede, we try to find a goal, we open up too many gaps, get hit on the transition and the goals we conceded are not acceptable at this level.

“After losing the last four games, we have to look at all these aspects from top to bottom.”

Analysis

The SPL has long been dominated by the big three of Lion City Sailors, Tampines Rovers and FC Jurong – formerly Albirex Niigata – with the Sailors the clear favourites with their wealth of resources.

While it is still early days, and Geylang are yet to play the Sailors and the Stags, the emergence of new contenders is always welcome.