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The Lion City Sailors cruised to a 2-0 victory in the Community Shield against the defending Singapore Premier League champions, Albirex Niigata Singapore, in front of 4,148 spectators at Jalan Besar Stadium on the 4th of May.
Goals from Singapore international, Shawal Anuar, in the 43rd minute and Maxime Lestienne in the 82nd minute gave the Sailors their first piece of silverware this year. The 2023 Singapore Cup winners will be hoping that this success is a sign of things to come for them over the course of a campaign in which they will be competing on four fronts.
The Lion City Sailors were dominant from the start against a new look Albirex Niigata (S) who come into this season as a local club. Bossing possession, the Sailors pinned Albirex in their own half for large parts of the first half with their slick movement and passing. Their counter-pressing approach when they lost the ball also made it difficult for Albirex to create opportunities and they eventually ended the first half without an attempt at goal.
The Sailors on the other hand had several attempts at goal but were frustrated as they lacked the killer touch in attack until Shawal stepped up to make the difference. His well-timed run in behind Albirex’s defence was picked out expertly by Maxime Lestienne. An excellent first touch from Shawal was followed by an unerring finish that was fired past Hassan Sunny in goal to give the Sailors the lead just before half-time.
The Sailors approached the second half in a different manner and allowed Albirex to see more of the ball, but the defending Singapore Premier League champions struggled to create anything of note in attack.
With the control they had in the game, the Sailors took the opportunity to push for a second and it was Maxime Lestienne who would, once again, cause issues for the opposition as he was brought down in the penalty box by Amy Recha. The referee pointed to the spot and Lestienne took on the responsibility to put the spot kick away.
There was a late chance in the 90th minute for Gareth Low to pull one back for Albirex as he pounced on a parry from Sailors goalkeeper, Zharfan Rohaizad, but he could not apply the finishing touch from just outside the six yard box. The final whistle went shortly after and the Lion City Sailors picked up their second community shield title to get their campaign off to a positive start.
Both head coaches shared their thoughts post-match on the Singapore Premier League’s coverage of the game with the Lion City Sailors head coach Aleksander Rankovic mentioning that he was happy with the performance of his players and praised their efforts at securing not just the win, but the clean sheet as well. Kazuaki Yoshinaga, Albirex’s head coach, was focused on putting in the work required on the training ground to improve their performances in the coming weeks.
The 2024/25 Singapore Premier League season begins on the 10th of May and every match will be broadcast LIVE via Singtel TV and StarHub TV as well as live streamed online via Mediacorp’s meWATCH platform and the SPL YouTube channel.
