Decided on my holiday to Singapore to see some S-League on a warm, humid night in Hougang to watch the home side Hougang United play host to Harimau Muda B at Hougang stadium.
Unfortunately my mind was focussed on other matters at hand which i hope all work out but cannot help these things from happening but the quality of the match was certainly not keeping my mind occupied for the right reasons.
The hosts at the start of this fixture were sitting in sixth place with Harimau sitting last in 12th place, the pressure was on Hougang to not slip up in order to book a place in the top six and progress to the second stage which is effectively the play-offs.
Harimau were in control the entire game and Hougang were playing some kind of train-wreck style of football. The obsession of long-ball tactics were painful and why were they doing this when it failed constantly? Also they looked good when they were passing the ball along the ground instead of kicking it in the air all the time. Sure the pitch looks a bit rough and bobbled a fair bit but if you are getting killed by kicking in the air you need to stop doing this.
Harimau could have easily put at least 5 or 6 past the hosts however as the Malaysian U21 B national side they have a lot of raw talent and were prone to make many simple errors. I would honestly hate to see how their A side fares in the National Premier Leagues Queensland competition which by going on this match they are in for some trouble.
The game finished 2-1 to Harimau Muda B with Hougang pinching a last minute goal and in rather comical circumstances the Harimau keeper went off with cramps only to have the reserve keeper issues two yellow cards for time wasting.
The food was very cheap and not much but decent finger food for the game. They had nuggets and crispy chicken on skewers for one dollar each and coke or lemonade for a dollar also. They sold ice cream within two wafer biscuits for $1.20. The food was not bad and for that price i wouldn't complain at least they had something unlike some other venues i have been to here. There was an Indian food cart too but there was a rather large crowd hovering around that and took too long to prepare to eat. I did however have some fine Indian food when i went to Little India on my way back home which i recommend.
While i wish I was watching this match under more happier and more enjoyable circumstances it was nice to get out of central Singapore and to see the rest of the island. While the level of the league is perhaps around the state league 1 level it is by no means an eyesore and you can see that there are positive things under way in the S-League. Finally after years of instability some normalcy is taking hold plus it is great to get out of the clammy humid room and enjoy the outdoors.
