Pennant keen to end his S’pore stint with a bang

SINGAPORE — He has confirmed he will leave Tampines Rovers and Singapore football at the end of the season, but ex-Liverpool and Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant still has some unfinished business to take care of.

The 33-year-old is determined to end his nine-month stint in Singapore football on a high by leading the Stags to victory against newly-crowned S.League champions Albirex Niigata (S) in the final of the Singapore Cup tonight.

Having signed for Tampines at the start of the year to great fanfare, Pennant was supposed to be the catalyst that propelled the club back to the pinnacle of Singapore football and challenge for honours on all fronts.

Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as planned for both player and club. While Tampines managed to progress to the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup, they were unable to secure the S.League title and League Cup, both of which were won by Albirex.

Pennant, however, believes the lack of silverware thus far is not a fair reflection of the season that Tampines have had.

“Hopefully we can get some form of silverware because we definitely deserved it this season,” said the former England Under-21 international.

“Finishing one point behind Albirex in the S.League, getting into the Singapore Cup final, and progressing to the quarter-final of the AFC, it’s not been a bad season.

“Personally, too, I definitely hope to end my stint in Singapore with a bang. So if we end up with some silverware by winning the Cup, I can go away feeling that much happier.”

Tampines, who will be looking to clinch the Cup for the first time in 10 years, beat Albirex 5-1 in the two teams’ final S.League match on Wednesday.

However, Stags head coach Akbar Nawas does not believe the comprehensive manner in which they beat their Japanese opponents in that game will have any bearing on the Cup final.

“The 5-1 win doesn’t have any effect in terms of morale and confidence. A cup final is different from what was essentially a dead-rubber S.League match, and everybody will give their all to win the match,” said Nawas.

“Essentially, the hungrier, and maybe luckier, team will nick the cup in the end. In particular, it’s a good stage for us to give a good account of ourselves, especially as this will be the last time that many of us will be playing together.

“Winning the cup will be icing on the cake of what I think has been a pretty good season for us, especially since we haven’t won it for so long.”

Meanwhile, Albirex head coach Naoki Naruo urged his players to finish the final stretch of the season strongly and complete their dream of winning an unprecedented treble. Albirex has already secured the League Cup and S.League trophies.

“Tomorrow is the last game of the season, so we want to end it strongly by playing like we have all year long,” said Naoki. “There will be two (decisive factors). The first will of course be us putting on our best performance. The second thing will be to try and score the first goal in the game, because I believe whoever does that will go on to win the cup.”

What: Singapore Cup final

Who: Albirex Niigata v Tampines Rovers

Where: Jalan Besar Stadium

When: Today, 8pm