Aw fumes over no-penalty decision

He strode into the Jalan Besar Stadium press conference room last night in a huff, and eyed the bottled water in front of him.

"Can I take this, to fan out the fire?" Hougang United coach Philippe Aw asked before taking a swig at the bottle before anyone could reply.

His team were denied a late penalty in the 2-2 draw against Philippine side Global Cebu FC in the first leg of their Singapore Cup semi-final at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night, with both players and technical staff remonstrating with referee Nathan Chan even after the match.

The ball seemingly hit Global's Wesley dos Santos on his arm just inside the six-yard box in time added on, but Chan waved off pleas from Hougang players for a spot-kick.

Aw said: "The way it finished, it was disappointing. It was a clear penalty and decisions like this will make or break a team.

"I can accept it if it was 50-50, but it was a clear, clear penalty."

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His counterpart, Global coach Akbar Nawas, disagreed though.

The former Tampines Rovers coach said: "I don't think (it was a penalty), but I have yet to see the video."

Despite playing a game in their domestic league last Sunday, and having just two players on their bench, Global were more than equal to the Cheetahs last night.

Aw's side struck first in the 28th minute, when Delwinder Singh chested the ball home from a corner, but Global replied just five minutes later.

Darryl Roberts tucked the ball home at the near post after being put through by teammate Paolo Salenga. He gave his team the lead after pouncing on a rebound in the 68th minute, before Fabian Kwok levelled for Hougang in the 85th minute with a superb first-time effort from outside the box.

Aw wants his side to cut down on their defensive lapses as they seek to keep local pride intact.

He said: "We've got 90 minutes, 120 minutes or even a penalty shoot-out to keep it alive. That gives us great motivation to prepare well for (the second leg)."

Akbar will have a paper-thin squad to choose from for Saturday's second leg at the Hougang Stadium, with Aguinaldo suffering an injury last night, but he is not giving up on the tie.

He said: "If we have to play with 10 men, we would."