Title hopefuls Tampines Rovers will be hoping to get their season back on track when they host Albirex Niigata (S) in the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League on Wednesday night.
Despite being touted as title favourites during pre-season, things have not gone smoothly for the Stags -- V. Sundramoorthy's side have won just one out of their last five games after getting maximum points from the first two.
Tampines' last victory came on Mar. 18 against Hougang United. Since then, they have suffered defeats against Geylang International and Warriors FC and were held to a draw by Balestier Khalsa.
Coach Sundramoorthy believes his side will be raring to go against the current league leaders as they are well rested following their 1-1 draw against the Tigers on April 22. "This break really helped us a lot in terms of preparing for the game against Albirex," he told ESPN FC. "This is actually a very important game for us so we have to try and win it. Overall the morale has been good and the team are really hungry for this."
Indeed a win is imperative for Tampines, who are currently fifth on the table and already nine points off the pace at the top although they have two games in hand.
Goals have also been hard to come by for the Stags, with only the bottom two sides Hougang United and Courts Young Lions hitting fewer than their tally of nine.
Tampines have also conceded three goals apiece against Geylang and Warriors after taking an early lead on each occasion. They conceded a late penalty against Balestier which Miroslav Kristic duly converted to deny them the win.
Sundram attributed the poor defensive record to the constant injuries which his side has sustained and the lack of familiarity within the newly-built squad. "In terms of performance, we have actually done well. But the irony is that we've let in sloppy goals," said the 49-year-old coach. "We need a change of fortune when it comes to conceding penalties.
"Against Geylang and Balestier, we conceded penalties. Especially against Balestier, it came from nowhere and I did not see them scoring prior to that. Also there were so many injuries and we can't get all five foreigners to play most of the time.
"We have a good squad but it's still early in the season and the players need some time to gel together. For example, Rodrigo Tosi came from Brunei DPMM and Indra Sahdan came from Home United so they need more time to develop understanding."
It looks like Sundram will not get to play all five foreigners against Albirex as well, with forward Mateo Roskam still nursing his way back to full fitness after sustaining a knee injury against the Young Lions early in the season.
Tampines had kicked off the season well with a 1-0 victory at Albirex, but fortunes could not have been more contrasting between both sides since -- the White Swans have collected 19 points out of the 24 on offer, while the Stags have only taken seven out of a possible 18.
Adding to that, Tatsuyuki Okuyama's side have only conceded one goal in their last seven matches. However Sundram is confident of conjuring the winning formula for his side.
"I've watched them played last Friday against Hougang," said the former Singapore international forward. "Albirex are a very organized passing team and are very dangerous. If you take them lightly, they will punish you. "But we know what are their strengths and weaknesses, so we're prepared to face them."
Tampines Rovers Probable Lineup: Joey Sim (GK), , Ismadi Mukhtar, Eddy Viator, Predrag Pocuca, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Roberto Alviz, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Fabian Kwok, Firdaus Idros, Indra Sahdan, Rodrigo Tosi.
Albirex Niigata (S) Probable Lineup: Yosuke Nazawa (GK), Mikiya Yamada, Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Rui Kumada, Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba (C), Atsushi Kawata, Kento Nagasaki, Shotaro Ihata.