It was Md Abu Bakar Mahari to the rescue again last night, scoring in the 84th minute of DPMM's match against Super Reds FC to give the Brunei side their first win of their debut Singapore League(S-League) season.
The 2-1 victory was a result of DPMM's excellent performance in the second half, never giving up the fight despite going behind as early as the 11th minute when midfielder Jeon Byung Euk netted from the penalty spot after DPMM midfielder Sairol Sahri was judged to have harshly tackled Yu Hyun Koo in the box.
Though the star striker Shahrazen Said was forced out of the game - with what looks to be a recurrent ankle injury - hardly a minute after the restart, the team's attack was at the capable feet of his replacement Md Abu Bakar, who scored the equaliser during the Brunei's team 1-1 draw with the Young Lions in their first match last week.
Shahrazen's injury, seemed to spur his teammates on and they embarked on waves after waves of attack - rewarded by the most unlikeliest of players.
Defender Yusof Salleh's free kick from 25 yards out curled past Kang Su Ho in between the Super Reds goalposts and found the top left corner in the 61st minute to draw level for the home side, and from then on, the fans would settle for nothing less than a win in the side's first home game of the season.
DPMM goalkeeper Wardun Yusof kept his team in the game two minutes later when he was forced to dive sharply to his right to save a shot own goal, but he was hardly troubled for the rest of the night.
After a menacing performancethus so far with dangerous runs and precise passes,Md Abu Bakar - nicknamed Eto'o by his teammates - repaid his coach's confidence in playing him by scoring 6 minutes before the final whistle.
Pushing the ball forward on the counter-attack, South Korean forward Oh Ddog Yi received a pass from the right and skillfully created space for a shot.
Though it was boxed out by goalkeeper,Kang,it was poor clearance and the oncoming Abu Bakar easily scored with a simple tap-in from a few yards out.
Doing well to put men behind the ball after that, DPMM rode out their first win of the season with their fans cheering them and hardly allowing the Super Reds the time and space to send in a cross.
The Koreans preferred method of attack was through the flanks, where they created space and sent in crosses, trying to make the most of their height advantage.
However, last season's runners-up were thwarted by the good aerial showing of defender Rene Komar and captain Pg Sallehuddin and hardly threatened from crosses or during set-poeces.
Pg Sallehuddin's performance was especially recommendable throwing himself at every tackle and one-on-one challengewith the vigour and determination that one would hardly expect from a 35-year old player.
Prior to the match head coach Vjeran Simunic had said that the team's attitude had changed and that was certainly true last night.
"We were hungry to play after that we could not compete in the Malaysian League - it was like we were in a cage," said Simunic yesterday.
"Give us a chance and we will play like this"I know we can do better.
"I am happy about the game, the team's performance and their attitude.
"It was a very offensive game, very openlike how we used to play last year ... Six players on the attack sometimes," added the Croatian.
"I have seen the Super Reds play before and they surprised me tonight because I did not think they were this good.
" I would like to thank the fans for supporting us and I want to tell them they must be proud of us, proud of the local players.We are playing Woodlands Wellington on Sunday and I want to see 10,000 fans here - if not I will go home because I don't like them playing in empty stadiums," added the Croatian with a wink.
The result pushes DPMM from ninth to fourth in the 12-team league with four points from two games.
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