Rovers complete 5-0 rout of Loyola Sparks

RANGED against a fitter and more experienced rival, United Football League side Loyola Meralco faded in the second half and took a 0-3 loss to Tampines Rovers Sunday night that sent the Sparks crashing out of the RHB Singapore Cup at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Singapore international Aleksandar Duric scored twice late in the second half to snuff out hopes of a Sparks’ comeback before Imran Sahib added a third in injury time to complete a 5-0 aggregate victory for Tampines.

Needing to overhaul a two-goal deficit from the first leg, the Sparks came out with plenty of drive in the opening half and carved out the better chances. Loyola fielded a more attack-minded starting eleven with Mark Hartmann and James Younghusband regaining their places.

Hartmann caused problems with his diagonal balls from midfield early on, while James Younghusband linked up well with brother Phil, keeping Tampines on its toes in the first half.

But Tampines Croatian goalkeeper Sasa Dreven was up to the task, palming away a curling shot from Phil Younghusband in the 28th minute, before denying the Fil-British striker from close range just before halftime in what turned out to be Loyola’s best chance of the match.

Loyola pushed more men forward in the final 45 minutes, leaving gaps in its defenses which Tampines exploited.

Duric held off the challenge of Korean defender Park Min-ho before slotting the ball past Ref Cuaresma in the 78th minute. He fired home a cross to make it 2-nil five minutes later.

A stunning win over S-League side Geylang United in the first round sent the Sparks to a quarterfinal duel with Burmese side Kanbawza, which they also ousted in a two-leg tie.

“There are so many positives for us to take from this experience in playing in the Singapore Cup,” Loyola assistant coach Vince Santos said.