Fazrul Nawaz helps Tampines cut Albirex's S.League lead to four points

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Tampines Rovers moved four points off the top of the S.League table on Friday after recording a 1-0 win over leaders Albirex Niigata (S) at the Jurong West Stadium.

In what was tipped to be a pivotal clash in the context of the title race, it was Fazrul Nawaz who emerged the hero for the Stags as his deflected effort 10 minutes from time was enough to hand them maximum points.

The victory will certainly give Tampines a huge boost as they notched a fourth successive league triumph, ending their opponents' 10-match unbeaten streak in the process.

Given how high the stakes were on Friday, it was perhaps no surprise that both teams played with plenty of caution for much of the opening 45.

The hosts did create the first real chance in the 22rd minute when Fahrudin Mustafic met Jermaine Pennant's excellent free kick with a header that sailed narrowly over, before Fazrul was played through shortly before the half-hour mark but was denied one-on-one by a smart save from Yosuke Nozawa.

Looking to preserve their seven-point advantage at the summit, Albirex looked content to sit back and make the most of their opportunities on the counter.

They did produce a couple of threatening forays forward, with Tatsuro Inui in particular looking dangerous, although their lack of a killer touch in the final third meant Tampines keeper Joey Sim was rarely threatened.

As the game entered its closing stages, it looked increasingly likely that a draw was on the cards.

But in the 80th minute, Fazrul did well to escape Mikiya Yamada's clutches and latch onto a speculative long pass by Shakir Hamzah.

The Singapore international advanced into the box and, from a tight angle, fired away a shot that took a wicked deflection off the recovering Yamada before looping past a stranded Nozawa.

Having fallen behind, the White Swans finally started to show more initiative in pushing forward and began to send the ball into the opposition box at every opportunity.

However, they left themselves with too much to do by that point as the Stags defence, marshalled superbly by captain Mustafic, held them at bay to claim a crucial win.

Although Tampines have now reduced Albirex's lead significantly with eight games still left in the campaign, Stags coach Akbar Nawas refused to entertain thoughts on whether Friday's result could prove pivotal.

"The team can definitely be proud of themselves and, of course, I'm very happy," he said. "For me, the only significance I take from this game is I want us to approach the next game the same way.

"We just want to look forward to the next match and take it one game at a time from now till the end of the season.

"Based on today's performance, they certainly should be looking forward to our next game."

Likewise, Albirex coach Naoki Naruo adopted a similar approach as he claimed he is yet to start thinking about any possible title triumph.

"We haven't talked about the league title yet," said the Japanese. "We just want to reflect on what we can from today's game and keep working hard.

"Throughout the 90 minutes, Tampines did a very good job.

"I think we allowed them to play their game and that was our mistake, so we have to work to improve on this."

Tampines Rovers: Joey Sim, Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic, Shakir Hamzah (Afiq Yunos 82'), Jordan Webb (Sufian Anuar 90'), Izzdin Shafiq, Hafiz Abu Sujad, Irwan Shah, Jermaine Pennant, Fazrul Nawaz (Ismadi Mukhtar 87'), Billy Mehmet.

Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa, Mikiya Yamada (Daichi Ishiyama 88'), Atsushi Shirota, Kento Fujihara, Shuto Inaba, Tomoki Menda, Hiroyoshi Kamata (Kazuki Mine 64'), Kento Nagasaki (Masaya Jitozono 88'), Naofumi Tanaka, Tatsuro Inui, Atsushi Kawata.