Warriors off to good start
WARRIORS 2
(Hafiz Rahim 22, Irwan Shah 61)
GEYLANG 1
(Hafiz Nor 90)
He was signed from Home United to provide more attacking spark for Warriors FC and he certainly did that against Geylang International last night.
Midfielder Hafiz Rahim opened the scoring for the hosts as the Warriors got off to a winning start in their Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League opener at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium last night.
"The main thing is that we got the three points tonight. It's great to score on my debut and I hope to do more of the same for the team for the rest of the season," said the 30-year-old Hafiz.
When asked how important a part Hafiz would play this season, Warriors coach Alex Weaver said: "It was lovely to see him play. He is very creative and a very clever player.
"He needs to play more forward and he needs the service from his teammates, and I'm glad everyone gave him that tonight."
After a nervy start, the home side took control of the game and Geylang couldn't deal with the Warriors' blistering runs from the flanks.
Hafiz was brought down at the edge of the penalty area in the 22nd minute and he took the free-kick himself, shooting the ball past Geylang goalkeeper Joey Sim.
Geylang created enough chances to trouble their opponents, but lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.
They were punished again for not dealing with the Warriors' attacks from the wings, as midfielder Nicolas Velez's cross was met by Irwan Shah at the far post just after the hour mark.
SENDING-OFF
The only dampener to Weaver's otherwise perfect night was Marin Vidosevic's sending-off 10 minutes from time.
The defender received his second booking and the subsequent red card, after his tackle brought down Eagles captain Ridhuan Muhammad right at the edge of the box.
"I loved how we played tonight," said a beaming Weaver.
"There were parts of the game which were really exciting to watch. I'm very pleased."
Hafiz Nor pulled back a goal for Geylang late on, but it was scant consolation for coach V Kanan.
"It was tough. We lost the ball too many times. We had trouble attacking, so we have to really work on that," he lamented.
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