The first round of fixtures for Balestier Khalsa Football Club in the Singapore Premier League (SPL) concluded on April 10 with a 1-0 win away to Geylang International at Our Tampines Hub.
The season started with the promise of exciting football, but with a word of caution, the team was a work in progress.
The theme of the first round saw Balestier Khalsa come from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Tampines Rovers at home.
Balestier fans were treated to some thrilling matches at home at the Toa Payoh Stadium – the 5-3 defeat to Tanjong Pagar United and the first win of the season, 4-3 against Young Lions.
Away from home Balestier has had a couple of chastening defeats, albeit against teams expected to challenge for the title, losing 6-0 to Albirex Niigata Singapore FC and 4-0 to Lion City Sailors.
The players and assistant coach, Syed Azmir Syed Azman, spoke at great length on the podcast Back Passt with Ras and assured fans the team was working on tightening its defence, but time and again, the evidence on the pitch betrayed their words.
The team looked better defensively in its 2-1 win at home against Hougang United but faced some hairy moments when Hougang reduced the deficit.
Finally, in its last match of the first round, it shut out Geylang for its first clean sheet of the season.
The team’s victory felt like it had won six points rather than three because of the clean sheet.
The victory allowed the Tigers to enter the season break in high spirits.
Head coach Akbar Nawas has kept his words to use players in unorthodox positions, but it has had mixed results. That could be a process of the club implementing Akbar’s ideas.
However, at this level, there isn’t much time and patience. Having gone through the first round out of four, I would expect him to know his players better, so the margins of error should be lesser.
An area in which the team has done very well has to be their attack fronted by an all-Japanese trio, Kuraba Kondo, Ryoya Taniguchi and one of the three captains in the team Shuhei Hoshino. The attacks have been incisive and clinical.
Hoshino offers something different from his nifty counterparts as he is the big man capable of holding up the ball, winning the ball in the air and scoring from set-pieces and crosses.
Balestier returns to action on Mother’s Day – Sunday – against second-placed Tampines Rovers.
Both teams are confident heading into the match, but Balestier had a longer break. That could mean they might need some time to get into the groove again.
Tampines last played on April 20 and are playing at home.
It makes for a fascinating battle ahead, much like what would unfold in the second period of this season.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.