It was a disappointing outing for Jermaine Pennant's Tampines Rovers as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Hougang United at Hougang Stadium on Wednesday night.

The title contenders looked like they were on the way to another routine victory when Billy Mehmet put them ahead from the spot late in the first half, with Hougang's Wahyudi Wahid sent off for conceding the penalty.

Pennant came off the bench in the second half once again, but was unable to repeat his match-winning heroics against Warriors FC as Hougang got a share of the spoils through substitute Iqbal Hussain.

The result leaves Tampines in second spot, two points behind Albirex Niigata (S) with both teams having played 10 matches, with Hougang third, another four points back.

There were few clear-cut chances in the first 45 minutes, with both sides unable to get a proper foothold on the game. Izzdin Shafiq and Fazrul Nawaz fired wide for Tampines in the first 10 minutes before Hougang's Fairoz Hasan shot meekly into the arms of Tampines goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud after being teed up by Stipe Plazibat.

Hougang made further inroads after the half-hour mark. But Yusiskandar Yusop spurned a free kick opportunity while Nazrul Nazari stung the palms of Izwan with a well-struck volley from outside the area.

Tampines broke the deadlock in the 40th minute, with English-born forward Mehmet sending Hougang custodian Khairulhin Khalid the wrong way from 12 yards out. That was after Wahyudi was dismissed for denying Hafiz Sujad a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Despite being a man down, Hougang returned for the second half an invigorated side. Nur Na'iim Ishak forced Izwan into a diving save before Delwinder Singh just failed to get a proper touch on Fairoz Hasan's teasing cross.

At the other end, Khairulhin had to stay alert to deny Fazrul Nawaz who was through on goal. He stuck out a leg to deny Shahdan Sulaiman's goal-bound drive.

With Tampines starting to repeatedly lose possession in their own half, Hougang piled bodies forward and eventually found the equaliser via super-sub Iqbal on 70 minutes.

Within four minutes of coming in, the 23-year-old seized possession after Irwan Shah had lost the ball in his own half. He proceeded to glide past marker Afiq Yunos before finishing low past the onrushing Izwan to send the home fans into ecstasy.

Tampines nearly retook the lead just seconds later when Hougang defender M. Anumanthan surrendered possession to Mehmet. But the latter was somehow outwitted by Khairulhin in an one-on-one situation.

Pennant tried his best to inspire the Stags in the dying stages, but there was little the former Arsenal and Liverpool winger could do to get past the stubborn Hougang backline.

"It wasn't our best game," lamented Tampines boss V. Sundramoorthy. "This was our eighth game since the start of April and you can see the players are tired.

"We had two clear chances when we were 1-0 up, but did not take them. We were then punished not because Hougang created the chance, but because we were sloppy in defence.

"We're disappointed with this result, but these boys are seasoned campaigners. I'm sure they'll move on for next week's big game against Selangor (in the AFC Cup)."

Hougang coach K. Balagumaran was understandably delighted with the resilient display.

"I'm amazed by this team performance," he beamed. "We played well in the first half, but were unlucky to concede the penalty through a mistake.

"At half-time, I told them that they had to run an extra five kilometres and work as a team. I'm really surprised how they played. I had problems deciding on substitutions because everyone was giving their 100 percent on the field.

"I took a gamble to bring on Iqbal and it paid off with him scoring a brilliant individual goal."

Hougang United: Khairulhin Khalid (GK), Nazrul Nazari, Yusiskandar Yusop, Wahyudi Wahid, Delwinder Singh, Fairoz Hasan (Huzaifah Aziz 83'), M. Anumanthan, Nur Na'iim Ishak (Iqbal Hussain 66'), Nurhilmi Jasni (Afiq Noor 83'), Stipe Plazibat, Jozef Kaplan (C)

Tampines Rovers: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Noh Rahman, Mustafic Fahrudin (C), Afiq Yunos, Irwan Shah (Christopher van Huizen 77'), Yasir Hanapi, Izzdin Shafiq, Fazrul Nawaz (Jermaine Pennant 64'), Shahdan Sulaiman (Ismadi Mukhtar 66'), Hafiz Sujad, Billy Mehmet

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ESPN staff

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]