The Courts Young Lions finally got their first home win of the season when they defeated Warriors FC 2-1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday night.
It took the U23 outfit 21 league games to finally register a home win, and it was Jordan Webb and Taufik Suparno who provided the goals, sandwiched by a Marin Vidosevic equaliser.
Young Lions came out in determined fashion and were ahead as early as the seventh minute when Shahfiq Ghani's free kick found an unmarked Webb who sent his shot past Daniel Ong.
Hafiz Rahim almost equalised two minutes later but his free kick was tipped over the bar by an alert Syazwan Buhari in goal.
The defending champions pushed forward in numbers and it was Vidosevic who got them back on level terms in the 21st minute, off a Hafiz corner.
There was two good opportunities for the visitors in the 40th minute, but Syazwan saved the day when he kept out efforts from Hafsyar Farkhan and Shi Jiayi to take the teams into the break on level terms.
It was Webb who troubled the Warriors defence again in the 49th minute when he weaved past Karlo Ivancic before playing the ball to Taufik who slotted home into an empty net.
Emmeric Ong and Hazim Faiz were brought on by Alex Weaver to provide fresh impetus, but the move failed to change the tempo of the game as the Young Lions continued to find joy down the attacking end.
Young Lions almost made it three in the 83rd minute when M. Anumanthan played in Fadli Kamis, only for the Warriors stopper to thwart his run bravely.
Warriors had one last opportunity to steal a point when Jiayi floated in a lovely cross that was met by Syaqir Sulaiman. The substitute stared in disbelief as Syazwan sailed through the air to push it out for a corner.
A visibly jubilant Juergen Raab was justifiably ecstatic at the end of the game, and reckoned his young team were deserved winners.
"It is very nice to sit here (after the game) to say we have the first home win of the season for this season." declared Raab.
"It was well deserved, especially based on the second half performance. We were very well organised and disciplined. That was my main point in the preparation for this game and I thought we played a good style of football.
"Very remarkable that we got our first away win (of the season) against Warriors and now, our first home win was against them as well."
His opposite number Alex Weaver cut a disappointed figure and admitted that both teams failed to create much chances in front of goal.
He said: "If you look at chances for both sides, there were few and far between. It wasn't the greatest game to be honest and we probably gave ourselves too much to do.
"For the first goal, we didn't track the run and that has kind of been the story of our season, especially since the break, where we give ourselves too much to do... and today, it was just a bit too much for us."
Warriors will try and get their faltering title hope back on track when they travel to Yishun Stadium on Oct. 21 to take on Home United in the uniformed derby while the Young Lions take on Balestier Khalsa away on Monday.
Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari (GK)(C), Fadli Kamis (Farhan Rahmat 90'), Amirul Adli, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Safirul Sulaiman, M. Anumanthan, Shahfiq Ghani (Nur Na'iim Ishak 77'), Taufik Suparno, Jordan Webb, Sherif El-Masri, Irfan Fandi (Ammirul Emmran 45')
Warriors FC: Daniel Ong (GK), Marcus Wheeler, Daniel Bennett (C), Marin Vidosevic, Irwan Shah, Thomas Beattie (Emmeric Ong 66'), Shi Jiayi, Hafiz Rahim (Syazqir Sulaiman 78'), Karlo Ivancic, Hafsyar Farkhan (Hazim Faiz 73'), Fazrul Nawaz