MUSCAT, 27 January 2008:
Al-Ansar Sultan Qaboos International Stadium
Second Half: Oman 2-0 Singapore (Full Time)
Singapore play their second international friendly of their training tour this evening against another of coach Raddy’s former teams – Oman.
Kick off has been put back by 30 mins to 1900hrs local time (2300hrs S’pore time).
John Wilkinson has been rested from today’s match after picking up a slight knock in training yesterday. Ridhuan Muhamad takes his place.
Elsewhere, Faizal Hamid returns at right-back in place of Noh Rahman and Khairul Amri will start on the left instead of Fazrul Nawaz.
It’s a big milestone for keeper Lionel Lewis, 25, and defender Baihakki Khaizan, who turns 24 in four days time. They both pick up their 50th international cap today.
On Thursday, the Lions beat Kuwait 2-0 at the same venue thanks to goals from Mustafic Fahrudin and Aleksandar Duric.
Singapore lineup: Lionel Lewis (gk), Faizal Hamid (Noh Rahman 58′), Baihakki Khaizan (Ismail Yunos 72′), Precious Emeujeraye, Daniel Bennett (Shahril Ishak 84′) , Ridhuan Muhamad, Mustafic Fahrudin (Juma’at Jantan 81′), Shi Jia Yi, Khairul Amri, Indra Sahdan (captain) (Agu Casmir 63′) and Aleksandar Duric
First Half
0 min – We are under way in our change strip of all blue.
5 mins – Good start by our Lions with plenty of possession.
7 mins - Emad Alhosni puts Oman ahead, bursting through the centre placing his effort in the bottom corner. That was the home side’s first attack of the game.
8 mins - Emad wins Oman a penalty after being brought down by Baihakki in the area.
9 mins – Hussain Mudhafar sends Lionel the wrong way from the spot to put the hosts 2-0 up inside 10 mins.
20 mins – Our Lions are getting back into the game but Amri and Duric have been caught offside on several occasions.
29 mins – Freekick on the right taken by Jia Yi. Half cleared by the defence and Mustafic’s shot from outside the area gets deflected out for a corner.
30 mins – Yellow for Mustafic.
39 mins – Amri tries from range from the left through a crowd of players. Keeper does well going down to save.
42 mins – Good passing sequence sees Mustafic brought down outside the box. Duric blazes the freekick over the bar.
44 mins – Great effort by Amri just inside the box but his shot just clears the bar as he aims for the top left corner.
Half Time – Despite falling 2-0 so early in the half, our Lions have given a good account of themselves so far with Amri particularly lively in the last 20 minutes. By no means are we out of this yet.
Second Half
46 mins – Singapore kicks off the second half with no changes at the break.
55 mins – Amri put through by Indra with a superb slide-rule pass and is brought down by a defender in the box. However the referee waves play on!
58 mins – Singapore make our first change with Noh Rahman coming on for Faizal Hamid. It is Noh’s 50th appearance for the country.
63 mins - Skipper Indra goes off to be replaced by Agu Casmir.
66 mins - Another half chance for Amri as he is put through but the Oman captain recovers well to clear the danger.
72 mins - Ismail Yunos comes on for Baihakki in defence.
77 mins – Amri has a goal disallowed with the assistant referee flagging him for offside.
80 mins – Jia Yi, who is having a very good game in central midfield, has a tremendous shot from distance well saved by the keeper.
81 mins – Juma’at Jantan is on for Mustafic.
84 mins - Bennett is replaced by Shahril Ishak. Juma’at shifts over to left-back while Shahril takes his place in midfield.
Full Time – The two early goals proved ultimately enough for Oman to hang on to a 2-0 win over Singapore.
