May 9, 2004

May 8, 2004 Jalan Besar

It was a rout as NFL club Sembawang SC fell to the Young Lions. The gulf in standards between the S-League & the NFL was pretty much evident. 5 Young Lions players got on the scoresheet with the Young Lions glad to keep Itimi Dickson & Agu Casmir on the bench for the match.

May 8, 2004 Jalan Besar

Singapore FA Cup Champion Tampines SC (NFL) try to restore NFL pride with a battling performance against Sinchi but fitness & lack of sharpness proved the NFL club downfall.

Before Sinchi took the lead The NFL team had several chances to take the lead with dangerman Nigerian Greg Nwokolo a constant thorn in the Chinese side defence. However they failed to convert those chances & pay for it with Sinchi Zhong Cheng fouled inside the area, a spot kick was awarded to Sinchi. Shi Jiayi dispatch the ball past Syed Mazhar Hussain to give the Chinese team the lead. Moments later, it was 2 goal when a mistake in the centre of the Tampines half saw some neat passing which culminated in Zhou Lei crossing for Liu Bin who controlled the ball & chipped past Mazhar Hussain.

Tampines did not give up & continued pressing to get back into the game. They got it when Greg Nwokolo, undoubtedly the star of Tampines in the first half, again left defenders trailing in his wake as he dribbled to the by-line before laying off a ball to Tan Puay Guan, who was left unmarked to fire home from close range.

The second period was the same story, as the NFL club could not take their chance. Again they were punished as player-coach Xie Yuxin great cross found Li Xi, whose first touch was immaculate, taking the ball past the goalkeeper, as he fired home for Sinchi third goal. It was not over though as player-coach Xie Yuxin got the Chinese side fourth goal in injury after a counter-attack.