Geylang International held by Warriors FC for fifth draw in six S.League games

S.League

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Geylang International's frustrating start to the 2016 S.League season continued on Friday night as they were held to a 2-2 draw with Warriors FC at Jalan Besar Stadium.

It looked like the Eagles would emerge with the three points, with Gabriel Quak and Carlos Delgado scoring to help them turn things around in the second half after Warriors FC took an early lead through Jonathan Behe. However, the Warriors gained a share of the spoils a minute from time through substitute Ridhuan Muhammad.

Geylang started off the more energetic of the two sides, with Delgado flashing a volley just wide on nine minutes after being teed up by Branko Cubrilo. However, the Warriors scored against the run of play seven minutes later.

A superb inswinging corner, played by Shaiful Esah, got a deflection off Al-Qaasimy Rahman's back before Behe gleefully stabbed home at the far post for his sixth goal in as many games.

Geylang had an opportunity to hit back right away, but Quak was unable to keep his effort down after being found by a Faritz Hameed cut-back.

Delgado and Quak then saw their free-kicks palmed away by Warriors' goalkeeper Yazid Yasin, before Warriors nearly extended their lead to two via a breakaway move on 39 minutes. Rak raced clear of the Geylang backline after receiving Behe's through pass. But the Croatian midfielder saw his resulting shot come agonisingly off the post.

The woodwork was rocked again four minutes later, albeit at the other end, with Daniel Bennett seeing his header from Quak's corner come off the bar.

The Eagles continued to pile on the pressure in the second half and eventually reaped the dividends five minutes after the restart.

From a throw-in on the left, Delgado hooked a ball into the area for a lurking Quak. He cut inside his man before firing a sizzling shot into the bottom left corner for the equaliser.

The tempo of the game then dropped until the 71st minute when Quak thumped home the rebound after Sahil Suhaimi forced a save from Yazid. But it was ruled out by the assistant referee's offside flag.

Warriors should have gone ahead two minutes later with Behe spurning a gilt-edged opportunity, after Shariff Samat's poor defensive header had put him through on goal.

It looked headed to a 1-1 draw before a thrilling end of the game that yielded another two goals.

Geylang went ahead on 86 minutes through a spectacular piledriver from Delgado that left Yazid grasping at thin air after the loose ball fell to him at the edge of the area.

But they were denied all three points right at the death, with Ridhuan playing an intelligent one-two with Nikola Rak before firing underneath the onrushing Geylang custodian Syazwan Buhari.

The result left Geylang assistant coach Noor Ali a disappointed man, with his side picking up only one win in six outings.

"It's definitely two points lost for us," said the former Singapore international, who stood in for the suspended Hasrin Jailani for this match. "We recovered from a poor first half and created enough chances in the second half to win the game. At 2-1, we should have killed off the game but we did not do so.

"I'm disappointed that we failed to win again, but it's still early in the season. We need to work more on the training ground to improve our goalscoring rate."

Warriors' counterpart Jorg Steinebrunner sang a similar tune, despite his side's last-gasp equaliser.

"If Nikola had scored from that chance in the first half, I don't think we would have lost the points," said the German. "We should have done better to close down Delgado for the Warriors' first goal, but the second one was unstoppable. We need to be more defensively solid, but credit to the team for not putting their heads down and getting the equaliser."

Geylang International: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Faritz Hameed, Daniel Bennett, Yuki Ichikawa (Shariff Samat 30'), Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Isa Halim (C) (Amy Recha 66'), Nor Azli, Carlos Delgado; Gabriel Quak, Sahil Suhaimi, Branko Cubrilo (Shawal Anuar 76')

Warriors FC: Yazid Yasin (GK), Poh Yifeng (Hasfyar Farkhan 88'), Madhu Mohana, Kento Fukuda, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin (C), Emmeric Ong, Syaqir Sulaiman (Ridhuan Muhammad 65'), Hafiz Rahim, Nikola Rak, Shaiful Esah (Hafiz Nor 23'), Jonathan Behe