Shahril Ishak earns Warriors FC draw at Tampines Rovers

Tampines Rovers saw their three-match winning run come to an end on Wednesday night as Shahril Ishak struck late to give visiting Warriors FC a 1-1 draw at Our Tampines Hub.

Shahril's second-half penalty cancelled out Hafiz Sujad's early opener to leave Tampines looking over their shoulders for the battle for second place.

Jurgen Raab's side are now seven points clear of third-place Home United, having played three games more.

Tampines settled in the better of the two sides, and opened the scoring after just 15 minutes.

A delightful through ball from Ryutaro Megumi found Fazrul Nawaz, who unselfish squared across goal for Hafiz to convert first-time for his first goal since rejoining from BBCU FC in Thailand.

Despite getting a hand to the shot, Warriors' goalkeeper Hyrulnizam Juma'at was unable to keep it out.

That stung the Warriors into action and they almost hit back just a minute later. Fazli Jaffar's low left-wing cross picked out Ridhuan Muhammad, whose goal-bound shot was hacked off the line by Shannon Stephen.

Warriors have another couple of chances before the break to equalise, but did not manage to trouble Izwan Mahbud much in the Tampines goal.

The visitors threatened again six minutes after the restart, with Hafiz Nor's piledriver from outside the box requiring Izwan to leap well to tip over.

Tampines could have doubled their lead on 55 minutes through via a good breakaway move, but Megumi's 20-yard shot was smothered by Hyrulnizam.

Failure to convert that proved costly as the Warriors would level matters three minutes later.

Shahril dusted himself off after being fell by Jufri Taha in the box, before sending Izwan the wrong way from 12 yards out for his 13th goal of the season.

Warriors coach Razif Onn brought on attackers Andrei Ciolacu and Jordan Webb, but it was Tampines who dominated the closing stages.

On 82 minutes, Ismadi Mukhtar found Ivan Dzoni in the box, but the Croatian substitute's snapshot was smothered by Hyrulnizam.

A minute later, Fazli Ayob, another Stags substitute, saw his close-range drive kept out by the Warriors custodian again.

In the 86th minute, Fazli slipped Megumi through on goal, but the Japanese winger's shot lacked the power to beat Hyrulnizam.

The final whistle soon sounded to signal a draw as Warriors continued their indifferent run of form, with just two wins in their last nine league games.

In Wednesday night's other game, the quest of Garena Young Lions for a first win in 2017 goes on after a narrow 1-0 loss to Balestier Khalsa.

Tampines Rovers: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Madhu Mohana, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Daniel Bennett, Shannon Stephen (Ismadi Mukhtar 71'), Son Yong Chan, Shahdan Sulaiman, Irwan Shah, Ryutaro Megumi, Fazrul Nawaz (Ivan Dzoni 56'), Hafiz Sujad (Fazli Ayob 80')

Warriors FC: Hyrulnizam Juma'at (GK), Emmeric Ong, Baihakki Khaizan, Hafiz Osman (Syaqir Sulaiman 88'), Ang Zhi Wei (Andrei Ciolacu 58'), Ho Wai Loon, Kento Fukuda, Ridhuan Muhammad, Hafiz Nor, Fazli Jaffar (Jordan Webb 70'), Shahril Ishak (C)