The 2012 Great Eastern YEO’S S.League season got off to an exciting start with the Great Eastern Charity Shield held on 5th February at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
2011 Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League champions Tampines Rovers FC and RHB Singapore Cup champions Home United thrilled an enthusiastic 4,146-strong crowd with some exciting attacking play with the Stags eventually winning the match with a comfortable 2-0 score line.
Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd is the new title sponsor for the Charity Shield. An exciting array of pre-match activities was put together for fans which included a lucky draw compromising iPad 2s, 32inch TVs and gaming consoles (Xbox, Playstation 3, wii). The crowd was entertained with performances by 2009 Singapore Idol runner-up, Sylvia Ratonel, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Batucada Barracuda, and a lion dance performance.
The main event for the night then got underway with both teams looking to start their 2012 season on a winning note. Tampines Rovers FC made their intentions known by breaking the deadlock with a goal from new foreign signing, Davor Piskor who found the back of the net in the fourth minute to stun the Protectors and draw first blood.
Despite going down to an early goal, the Protectors kept the pressure on Tampines with their offensive yet entertaining football led by captain Shi Jia Yi and Frederic Mendy in attack but were unable to find the equaliser.
The teams went into the break with Tampines Rovers holding on to a slender one-goal lead.
The Stags stepped back out in the second-half with every intention of keeping the lead and they did just that in the 60th minute when Gilgor Gligorov slotted the ball into the bottom right corner with a well taken shot.
Home United were unable to turn the match around though they had a few close chances.
The final whistle came and the yellow half of the stadium rose in unison as Tampines Rovers FC were crowned 2012 Great Eastern Charity Shield to kick start their 2012 campaign.
Speaking more on the charity element, S.League CEO Lim Chin said “The good crowd turnout is a good start for the S.League, being the curtain raiser to the exciting season ahead. I am delighted with this great partnership with Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd. I would like to take this opportunity to applaud Great Eastern’s efforts and it is wonderful for both the company and the S.League to be able to give back to the society through football. I do look forward to more of such partnerships in the near future.”
Great Eastern Life Assurance General Manager(Singapore), Dr Khoo Kah Siang was pleased with how the event turned out when he said: “We are delighted for the first time to sponsor the Great Eastern Charity Shield. Great Eastern is committed to make meaningful contributions to the communities we serve and to make a positive difference. Our founding values of integrity and involvement are at the heart of everything we do and steer our CSR initiatives. We are pleased that we were able to raise $20,000 for MINDS Fernvale Gardens School, the adopted charity under our ChildrenCare programme. The school caters to children with special needs and we are glad that we are able to do our bit to help.”
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Home United FC coach Lee Lim Seang said “I would like to first congratulate the winning team, Tampines Rovers FC. As for my team, I found out our weak points tonight and we will work to strengthening the team as the season goes along. We changed a lot of players this seasons and I am still learning how to play them however we showed we can create chances upfront too. Hopefully, I will smile during my next post-match press conference. Tonight’s match is a charity one and I would like to smile for that.”
After winning his first silverware for the 2012 season, Tampines Rovers FC Coach Steven Tan mentioned “Basically this is our first game after our pre-season training tour and I told the players to not get injuries as we have an important match coming up next week. And the players did just that and gave their all tonight. We also now can roughly gauge where we stand now. I am certain that Home United FC will come back strongly in this season.”
He then ended the post-match press conference by thanking the media for their continued support for the S.League especially over the coverage given to the S.League clubs over the last week.
Alfred Choong a product specialist manager, who was down at the stadium to catch his first Great Eastern Charity Shield game was impressed with what he saw. He said, “I have never been down to a stadium to watch an S.League match before and having watched the LIONSXII home matches here at Jalan Besar Stadium, I wanted to see the quality of the two top teams in local football. I am very impressed with some of the players especially Tampines Rovers’ attacking style of play. I will definitely be back for more.”
Final Score : Home United FC 0-2 Tampines Rovers FC
Starting Line-up for Home United FC: Lionel Lewis (GK), Jeremy Chiang, Kenji Arai, Rosman Sulaiman (Hafiz Nor 20’ (Saheer Afiq 81’), Shi Jiayi (C), Shotara Ihata, Frederic Mendy, Firdaus Idros, Rhysh Roshan Rai, Masrezwan Masturi, Zahid Ahmad (Sofiyan Abdul Hamid 89’)
Starting Line-up for Tampines Rovers FC: Sasa Dreven (GK), Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Ahmed Fahmie (Ali Hudzaifi 70’), Sazali Salleh (Ismadi Mukhtar 46’), Davor Piskor, Imran Sahib, Anaz Hadee, Gilgor Gligorov (Aleksandar Duric 77’), Benoit Croissant,Jamil Ali
