Hasrin blows his top after penalty claims turned down
Geylang coach Hasrin incensed by two rejected penalty claims
GEYLANG INT'L 0
ALBIREX NIIGATA 0
He is usually cool, calm and collected.
That is why fans were stunned when Geylang International coach Hasrin Jailani went into a meltdown last night, after watching his side spurn chance after chance and having two penalty appeals rejected in their Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League match with Albirex Niigata.
Both sides eventually shared the spoils in a goalless but action-packed draw in front of 2,139 fans at the Bedok Stadium.
Hasrin, a rookie head coach, blew his fuse in injury time, when referee Sukhbir Singh waved away two Geylang penalty claims.
The first came in the 91st minute when Sahil Suhaimi wriggled his way into the box and hit the deck surrounded by three Albirex defenders.
Moments later, Gabriel Quak surged into the box and went down under a challenge from White Swans defender Tomoki Menda.
Hasrin was so incensed by the two decisions that he went ballistic inside his technical area, kicking one water bottle and slamming another into the ground.
Even Geylang team manager Aizat Ramli, who towers over his head coach, struggled to hold him back.
All the drama on the touchline caught the attention of Sukhbir, who went over to the Eagles' technical area and sent Hasrin to the stands
The 40-year-old former national midfielder later stormed off into the dressing room.
Geylang assistant coach Md Noor Ali later faced the press.
FRUSTRATED
"He was probably just frustrated we had so many chances to score but did not put away even one," the former national winger said of Hasrin.
"We should have collected the three points tonight."
Indeed. How last night's match at Bedok ended without the ball bulging the net even once, is a mystery.
With just 90 seconds gone, Albirex goalkeeper Yosuke Nozawa had to pull off a double save to deny Sahil, and then Isa Halim off the rebound.
Later in the first half, Geylang's Argentine playmaker Carlos Delgado came close to scoring twice in a matter of minutes.
After seeing his thumping shot crash off the crossbar in the 25th minute, Delgado then saw a shot destined for the top corner brilliantly turned behind by Nozawa.
Nozawa also made big saves off Branko Cubrilo, Stanely Ng and Faritz Hameed in the second half.
Albirex looked dangerous with the S.League's leading scorer Atsushi Kawata leading the line, but the closest they came to scoring was when Tatsuro Inui's header bounced off the upright in the 70th minute.
Then came the two controversial moments in injury time, which made Hasrin go berserk.
Albirex coach Naoki Naruo admitted that his side were second best on the night.
"We made many mistakes and couldn't get into our rhythm, and I am disappointed," he said. "One point is a good result for us."
- GEYLANG: Syazwan Buhari, Faritz Hameed, Shariff Allapitchay, Yuki Ichikawa, Daniel Bennett, Isa Halim, Nor Azli Yusoff (Safirul Sulaiman 73), Stanely Ng (Gabriel Quak 68), Carlos Delgado (Shawal Anuar 83), Branko Cubrilo, Sahil Suhaimi
- ALBIREX: Yosuke Nozawa, Tomoki Menda, Atsushi Shirota, Kazuki Mine, Mikiya Yamada, Masaya Jitozono, Shuto Inaba (Rui Kumada 88), Naofumi Tanaka, Tatsuro Inui (Hiroyoshi Kamata 76), Kento Nagasaki, Atsushi Kawata
- TNP MAN OF THE MATCH: Yosuke Nozawa (Albirex)
TONIGHT'S MATCHES
- BALESTIER KHALSA v WARRIORS FC (7.45pm, Jalan Besar Stadium)
- BRUNEI DPMM v HOME UNITED (8.15pm, Bandar Seri Begawan)
LAST NIGHT'S OTHER RESULT
- GARENA YOUNG LIONS 1 (Fareez Farhan 80) HOUGANG UNITED 3 (Stipe Plazibat 4, 83, Taufiq Muqminin 52-og)
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