10-man Global yields to Singapore’s Rovers
FILIPINO side Global absorbed a 1-2 defeat to Tampines Rovers in the second leg of their quarterfinal tie Saturday night at Jalan Besar Stadium and crashed out of the Singapore Cup.
Counting their 1-3 loss from the first leg, Global took a 2-5 defeat on aggregate as coach Leigh Manson’s charges failed to match their 2013 and 2015 semifinal finish in the prestigious tournament.
Another Filipino club, Ceres-La Salle, looks on course to seize a semifinal berth with a 3-0 lead against DPMM Brunei after the first leg of their quarterfinal tie.
The second leg was scheduled to be played last night with the winner on aggregate advancing opposite Tampines Rovers in the Last Four.
Misagh Bahadoran started on the bench, but Global showed plenty of attacking impetus early on with the People’s Club rewarded by a 20th minute goal from Japanese striker Pika Minegishi, who directed Serge Kaole’s cutback into the bottom corner.
Omid Nazari fired a volley that was just kept out by Singapore international Izwan Mahbud on the Tampines goal in the 33rd minute.
Global’s comeback hopes suffered a blow, however, when English striker Billy Mehmet, who scored the opener in the first leg, equalized for the S-League side just before the break to keep a two-goal margin on aggregate.
A red card on Nazari in the 39th minute for an off-the-ball altercation with Yasir Hanapi left the Filipino side with a tougher climb in the second half.
Tampines substitute Hafiz Sujad settled the tie with his 71st minute strike taking a massive deflection off Milan Nikolic and completely wrong-footing Patrick Deyto in the Global goal.
“For 40 minutes, we tore Tampines apart, but then a key player lost his head at a key moment of the match and that made it very difficult for us,” said Manson.
