New-look Hougang get off to winning start

SINGAPORE — They were the talk of the town before the season started, suiting up for their pre-season media conference and refurbishing their changing room and dugout.

On Monday night (Feb 27), Hougang United showed that they could produce on the pitch too, as they began the new campaign with a 2-0 victory over Geylang International.

Clinical strikes from Fumiya Kogure and Iqbal Hussein at the Hougang Stadium gave head coach Philippe Aw the perfect start to life at his new club, and he admitted afterward that it was a relief.

“We came into this game with everybody saying that Hougang was sure to win because of all the hype,” he said. “There was so much attention on us, but we still had to work hard to play our game.

“For us, I feel relieved that the team got the win as the boys were under so much pressure to perform.

“They took the game to us, they really came out and threw the numbers forward in the second half… What was pleasing also was to have a clean sheet.”

While the match action was end to end, the heavy field conditions meant Aw had to switch tactics from the usual passing philosophy he preaches to a more direct approach, which paid off on 24 minutes.

M. Anumanthan, playing on the right of a three-man defence, got forward and his cross was half cleared to Kogure, whose low effort from 12 yards nestled into the bottom left corner despite Syazwan Buhari getting fingertips to it.

The 1,642-strong crowd nearly had an equaliser to witness on 54 minutes after Shawal Anuar had rounded goalkeeper Khairulhin Khalid, only to see Zulfahmi Arifin recover superbly to clear the ball off the line.

The Eagles piled on the pressure, playing four attackers in a bid to salvage the game and nearly found the breakthrough on 86 minutes. Victor Coto turned neatly in the box before smashing the ball towards goal, only for Khairulhin to pull off a blinding save.

That was to prove a turning point as the hosts launched a counter-attack from there, which ended with Pablo Rodriguez stroking a beautiful through pass for Iqbal to slot home and seal three points.

Geylang head coach Hasrin Jailani acknowledged that it was a “tough game” to start with, especially with an injury ruling out one of his foreigners, Richard Sendra, but urged his side to keep their heads up.

“We did okay, but there are a lot of things that can be done, definitely,” he said. “They didn’t have many chances, to be honest – for me, it was anybody’s game… and I want the whole team to stay positive, that is most important.”