The Korean star, Park Kang Jin went ahead as a substitute after a long-standing spell out with injury, yet the Tigers paid for squandering their chances as the Cheetahs returned away with three points.

Balestier Khalsa respected the reappearance of star man Park Kang Jin on Friday night, however he was unsuccessful to bring the team into victory as they went down 2-1 to Hougang United at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The Korean playmaker has finished the full 90 minutes of the game, his third appearance on the campaign after missing most of his team’s game this season due to injury. The extensive nonattendance corresponded with six-game winless streak that ended after they won against Harimau Muda last Wednesday.

Balestier tried to expand on that by bringing on Park halfway at the second half at 1-1 and he almost made a goal within five minutes, jabbing a shot distressingly wide of the far post.

While the Cheetahs ended the game triumphantly, the substitute did make instantaneous improvement to Balestier's offensive play in spite of clearly not being match-fit.

After the match, coach Marko Kraljevic revealed that the 25-year-old had only prepared for one week, expressing that he required more time to recapture his structure. The German-Croat then emphasized Park's imperativeness, as he has done so frequently before, comparing him to an alternate Premier League star in the wake of contrasting him with Liverpool's, Coutinho a week ago.

"Arsenal, they didn't win the championship because of Ozil [although] they have many other world-class players," he called attention to, alluding to the German star's injury issues throughout the Gunners' title run-in.

Balestier will unquestionably trust for Park to be once more taking care of business soon as they are situated to lose an alternate star in skipper Paul Cunningham.

Actually, the Tigers made enough opportunities to win even without Park. Kim Min-ho struck the bar when the game was still goal-less, while Goran Ljubojevic was denied by Fadhil Salim's outstanding block while waltzing through Hougang’s defence earlier in the second half.

Geison Moura made them pay on the 60th minute mark, sidefooting home a fine first-time finish off of Fairoz Hasan's low cross.

That ended up being the decider after Ljubojevic's penalty had cancelled out Diego Gama's corner, which had twisted straight into goal for the opener.

Ruhaizad Ismail's fabulous dipping strike went barely over the bar late on as Hougang hold on for a clinical win, notwithstanding Balestier having the better of the second half. It was a triumph that satisfied Amin Nasir, who saw his team tumble to a surprising loss against the Courts Young Lions a week ago.

"Its very crucial for us to win tonight, the boys needed to bounce back and today's game was very important for their morale," Amin said. "I am glad they responded tonight."

The former Singapore international likewise communicated his fulfilment at his team's performances after the first round of matches, expressing that they were "comfortable" with wearing the underdogs label and would continue giving their best.

He stated, "It won't be right for me to say we’re going for a top-three finish; we managed to be at the sixth position [currently] and we will try to maintain it."

Kraljevic was left to regret one laps in fixation for yet an alternate thrashing in a baffling campaign so far, however trusts his side can improve in the remaining matches.

"Of course it’s disappointing," Kraljevic admitted. "It’s just some individual mistake and then we conceded a goal. You miss [chances], then you concede, this is football.”

"I think we can do better, I really do."

Since the time of assuming control over the reigns from V.kanan, Jorg Steinebrunner has stunningly lifted Geylang International as far as both execution and results as his side went on a seven-game unbeaten streak.

In any case, the Eagles' late 4-2 defeat by Albirex Niigata (S) has put a stop to that as Steinebrunner endured his first annihilation as Geylang coach.

However, that lost did not appear to bother the German gaffer as he pondered over what he thought was a great execution from his squad.

Steinebrunner said, “The lost would have still come one day, and that day is today.”

“I rather we concede four goals in one game than lose 1-0 for four games.”

“We were unfortunate to go down 1-0 because we gave the ball away cheaply but we went on to apply pressure and came back, thanks to Fabian who would have scored the goal of the year.”

The previous S. League guard was frustrated his group neglected to clutch their lead, and rather yielded to the Japanese side in a baffling way.

“The lead we had was deserved but the second goal we conceded could have been avoided because no one picked out the centre-back who made a long run to equalise.”
“What disappoints me is the fact that we had a helping hand in those four goals we conceded.”

“Defending is not just done by two or three players, it is done by the whole team. Earlier, we were not ruthless in defending,” Steinebrunner added.

Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama was justifiably content with his group's execution, as they picked up their second win in three matches.

Tatsuyuki said, “I am very satisfied with the result. Few of my players did not play well in the first half, that’s why we lost the ball unnecessarily.”

“I told them at half-time to improve and our midfield got better in the second half.”

Tremendously fulfilled by what he saw, the coach said that this match was a genuine impression of his side's capacity.

“The whole game showed our style and how we desire to play, so there is nothing else I could ask for.”

The leader of the Super League Pahang's perfect home record will be put under a magnifying glass in a top-of-the-table crash against title contenders Selangor at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan on Saturday.

The Elephants have a supreme reputation at home with seven straight wins and scoring a monstrous 19 goals.

Pahang coach, Zainal Abidin Hassan strongly believes that they are on course to secure the crown in the event that they can keep up their winning streak at home and gather full points in the other two matches against Johor Darul Ta'zim (away, May 16) and Terengganu (home, May 24).

Zainal said on Thursday, “This is a crucial month for Pahang. I think the next three matches will determine the league champions. Right now, it is still tight at the top with three other teams within striking distance of the title.”

Pahang leads the 12-team standing with 28 points and is in front of Selangor with a finer goal difference. Meanwhile, JDT and Terengganu are close behind with 25 and 24 points individually.

Zainal said their quick undertaking is to beat Selangor to whom they lost 0-1 in the first round at the Shah Alam Stadium.

Zainal stated, “The home fans have been a real inspiration to the team. If not for their support, we could not have achieved the seven-game winning streak at home.”

Pahang is additionally showing incredible guns in the FA Cup. They will play with JDT in the return leg of the semi-finals in Kuantan on May 31 in the wake of having a draw of 1-1 at their first-leg match at Larkin Stadium a week ago.

“We have the advantage but we will focus on the league now. All the players are in the right frame of mind and I am sure they will not let the fans down,” added Zainal.

Pahang have an established side and just made minute progressions to the squad who won the Malaysia Cup last season. The eminent change is the inclusion of Nigerian striker, Dickson Nwakaeme who was previously featured for Kelantan.

Pahang have held Argentinian striker Matias Conti and Jamaican defender Damion Stewart. Also, the club’s latest signing is Pakistani, Zesh Rahman.

Sarawak's Under-17 and Under-14 football teams enlisted a draw and a loss at home to rivals from Perlis in the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia (KPM) football league competition played at SMK Tabuan Jaya last Saturday.

In the first match, the Under-14 group lost with 2-3. While in the second match, the two Under-17 teams both finished in a 1-1 draw match.

Sarawak’s team coach, Resa Billie was persuaded that his players have given their best.

“I have no qualms regarding their performances today. We just want to focus on the next match,” said Resa billie.

The Sarawak Under-17 team are doing well on the league table being on the second place out of 10 teams.

While, the Under-14 team is presently at the sixth place out of 10 teams.

Resa said he stays cheerful for the younger players as the points crevice between all teams is close.

Resa included in his statement that, “We have a realistic chance for a top half finish.”

The team will face Pahang next week in an away game.

Selangor head coach, Mehmet Durakovic thinks that his Red Giants should be on the roost of the Super League table due to their consistent performance.

Also he plans to see his side move to the top when they tackle the recently inconsistent Terengganu at the Shah Alam Stadium on Sunday night.

The Red Giants have just dropped six points from their last eight matches after their 4-1 thrashing to Johor Darul Ta'zim on Feb 15. They are presently second, only one point behind leaders Pahang (28 points) with a game on Sunday.

Fifth-placed Turtles are experiencing a terrible patch having gone down to a stun 2-0 misfortune to bottom side Perak in their last league game a month ago.

The 48-year-old coach said his players have been model experts and have given their heart for the team in spite of their tumultuous fixtures schedule.

Durakovic said, “We were practically playing three matches a week before we were knocked out of the AFC Cup competition and the players have given their best in every match.”

“We have been consistent in the league and we deserve the top spot. Terengganu have been inconsistent but they will be back fresher after the three week break so it will be a tough match.”

Durakovic said new midfield signing Mohd Nazmi Faiz Mansor, who had just trained with the squad for a week, may need to hold up a while for his introduction.
“Nazmi is a wonderful young talent but he just joined and needs a bit more time to gel with the team,” Durakovic concluded.

Datuk Taufek Abdul Razak has uncovered that the FAM's secretariat never requested them to talk about the mauling claim that was made by T-Team.

Datuk Taufek Abdul Razak, the President of the Football Associations of Malaysia (FAM) disciplinary trustee, has put forth a stunning expression concerning the Larkin incident.

Taufek said that the board never gained any charges from the FAM secretariat as to the claim that the most elevated official of Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) had attacked players and staff of T-Team.

As stated by Berita Harian, Taufek expressed that “I must explain here that the disciplinary committee will open and investigate the case if the secretariat made the allegations.

In this case, we only received reports of safety and security problems, not what happened in the tunnel.”

Taufek also added, “If there is a report sent to us, then we will definitely discuss and look into it, and I hope the public will understand this and stop pointing fingers to the committee.”

Taufek likewise included that the committee will only take actions at the case provided it was assigned to them by the secretariat.

So far he demanded that they have never neglected to take a look at a case.

Taufek included in his statement that, “I can guarantee that we never missed any case, and we always discuss each case given to us, including the high profile cases.”

The incident that happened on February 1st was at last settled by FAM with the association just fining JDT RM30,000 due to their negligence to give great wellbeing to the visitng team.

On the other hand, T-Team's claim that their staffs and players were attacked by the highest official of JDT was never talked about by the panel.

Numerous individuals, including the fans and the Chief Minister of Terengganu, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, have pummelled FAM by saying that the association's judgement was unreasonable.