Gap open up at top

Champions Tampines have opened up a 5 point-gap at the top after they won both their matches in the week.

First, they defeated Arch-rival Geylang 1-0 with a goal Jamil and then 4 days later they beat Hougang 3-0 with Aleksandar Duric coming off the bench to score a brace while Khairul Amri added the last goal.

Both time, when their main strikeforce could not deliver, they had their backup and this is why they have now won an impressive 31 points from a possible 36.

Struggling to keep up is second-placed Albirex Niigata (S) as they cannot afford to drop point and that is what they did as they beat Warriors 3-2 but the eight-time champions pushed them close as despite falling behind 2-0 and 3-1, the Choa Chu Kang side refused to give up each time.

Shingo Suzuki first gave the White Swans the lead in the first half and then moment after the break, they added a second and the game should have been over but Marin Vidosevic forced one back within minutes

Bruno Castanheira then put the White Swans two goals clear but Mislav Karoglan saw to it the Japanese will have an uncomfortable end as he pull one back with another 20 minutes and the Croatian could have tied things after he dispossesed White Swans goalkeeper Hiroaki Hara late on, but could only sail his shot wide from a very tight and narrow angle.

In another game, Home United players are also in an uncomfortable position after they went down 2-3 to DPMM Brunei who only playing with 1 foreigner, Tales Ricarte Santos,who did the damage with his two goals after Adi Said gave the Brunei side the lead.

Goals from Masrezwan Masturi and Jordan Webb had appeared to gave the Protectors a share of the point before the Brunei Brazilian ace popped up in injury time with his goal.

Indeed Home United boss Paul Lee was so angry with his team, he decided to skip the press interview after the match to' have a word with his team'.

Considering Lee reputation, it was not a comfortable night for Home on their way back to Singapore.

Tampines Rovers
Sasa Dreven (GK), Jufri Taha, Mustafic Fahrudin (C), Seiji Kaneko, Imran Sahib (Ahmed Fahmie 85'), Firdaus Kasman, Jamil Ali, Shaiful Esah, Aleksandar Duric, Martin Wagner (Shahdan Sulaiman 53'), Sead Hadzibulic (Khairul Amri 75')

Geylang International
Takuma Ito (GK), Khairulnizam Jumahat (Nurhazwan Norasikin 67'), Khayrulhayat Jumat, Norihiro Kawakami, Delwinder Singh, Yasir Hanapi (Andrew Tan 83'), Fabian Kwok, Taufiq Ghani, Jalal (Duncan Elias 79'), Jozef Kaplan (C), Wahyudi Wahid

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Warriors FC
Hassan Sunny (GK), Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Daniel Bennett (C), Shimpei Sakurada, Ruzaini Zainal, Shukor Zailan (Matthew Abraham 68'), Shi Jiayi, Mislav Karoglan, Marin Vidosevic, Erwan Gunawan (Sufian Anuar 68'), Prakash Manikam (Amirul Haziq 85')

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Home United
Shahril Jantan GK (C), Noh Rahman, Sirina Camara, Hafiz Rahim, Jordan Webb, Firdaus Idros, Lee Kwan Woo, Masrezwan Masturi, Nor Azli Yusoff (Haziq Azman 58'), Fukui Masato (Indra Sahdan 49'), Song Ui Young

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Tampines Rovers
Sasa Dreven (GK), Jufri Taha, Shaiful Esah, Mustafic Fahrudin (C), Seiji Kaneko, Shahdan Sulaiman, Imran Sahib (Anaz Hadee 90'), Firdaus Kasman, Jamil Ali (Aleksandar Duric 63'), Sead Hadzibulic (Martin Wagner 85'), Khairul Amri

Hougang United
Fadhil Salim (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Hasree Zais, Lau Meng Meng (C), Thomas Beattie (Fairoz Hasan 86'), Jeremy Chiang (Fazly Hasan 46'), Azhar Sairudin, Fazli Jaffar, Liam Shotton, Nurhilmi Jasni (Eziakor Robert 77'), Mamadou Diallo