Webb hat trick as Tampines crush Garena Young Lions

S.League

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Canadian attacker Jordan Webb was in scintillating form as he netted a hat trick to inspire Tampines Rovers to a 6-1 thrashing of Garena Young Lions in the S.League on Tuesday night.

Former Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant missed an early penalty that would have given Tampines the lead before making amends from the spot in the second half.

Two goals inside five minutes by Fazrul Nawaz and Webb had put the Stags firmly in control of proceedings at Jurong West Stadium before Fareez Farhan netted to pull one back for the visitors. However, Tampines captain Fahrudin Mustafic restored their two-goal cushion before the break, with a powerful header, before Pennant's late penalty, and another two goals from Webb, completed a dominant display.

The victory, the Stags' third in a row in all competitions, sees them move four points behind leaders Albirex Niigata (S). They have now scored 10 goals in their past two games under attack-minded, new coach Akbar Nawas.

They certainly looked a side out to make a statement from the opening whistle. But they spurned a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in the 12th minute when Pennant blazed a penalty way over. That was after Hafiz Abu Sujad had been felled inside the box by Taufiq Muqminin.

Nonetheless, they duly took the lead eight minutes later when determined play from Fazrul saw him keep the ball alive by the touchline and turn his man before squeezing his shot in at the near post.

The hosts then doubled their advantage in the 25th minute when Billy Mehmet did well to hold up play before feeding a ball into the path of Webb, who calmly slotted past Bertrand.

The Young Lions did give themselves a lifeline three minutes after the half-hour mark. Khairul Amri's powerful shot was parried by Joey Sim into the path of Fareez, who made no mistake firing into the unguarded goal.

But five minutes before half-time, a pinpoint Pennant delivery from a corner found Mustafic, who restored his side's cushion by nodding into the back of the net.

Despite their healthy advantage, Tampines looked in no mood to take their foot off the pedal in the second half. Webb added a fourth in the 48th minute after wriggling his way free of Amirul Adli's clutches and rifling a shot past Bertrand.

Young Lions were unlucky not to pull one back in the 66th minute when Joshua Pereira's close-range effort came back off the bar. Then Sim produced an excellent save five minutes later to deny Hazim Faiz one-on-one.

Still, the hosts never looked like relinquishing their stranglehold on the contest. Pennant made amends for his earlier miss by converting another spot kick following a foul on him by Rusyaidi Salime in the 78th minute.

And two minutes later, the rout was completed when a brilliant long pass by Fabian Kwok released Webb. He sprinted past the onrushing Bertrand for his hat trick and cap off another fine display by the Stags.

Expectedly, Webb received plenty of praise from his coach after the final whistle, although Akbar insists there is still improvement to come from his side.

"Kudos to Jordan for a job well done, but he can definitely still get even better," said Akbar. "To be honest, it's a good scoreline but I wasn't quite pleased with the first-half performance.

"Credit to the players for getting the result in the end but there are still parts of the game we can work on."

Meanwhile, Young Lions' coach Patrick Hesse, usually known for usually being optimistic and upbeat, was disappointed with his side's commitment levels.

"I'm very, very disappointed because it wasn't a championship game we were playing but more like a friendly game," said the Frenchman. "For me, it's the worst game since the beginning of the season. We've done well in the past month and showed we can play well against some good teams and now we're going downwards too much.

"It's not possible for us to play this badly tactically, technically and mentally.

"Now I have five days to prepare the team for us to show another side of the team."

Tampines Rovers: Joey Sim, Jufri Taha, Fahrudin Mustafic, Afiq Yunos, Irwan Shah, Jordan Webb, Jermaine Pennant (Sufian Anuar 82'), Yasir Hanapi (Izzdin Shafiq 46'), Hafiz Abu Sujad, Fazrul Nawaz (Fabian Kwok 72'), Billy Mehmet

Garena Young Lions: Benjamin Bertrand, Rusyaidi Salime, Taufiq Muqminin (Shannon Stephen 65'), Amirul Adli, Zakir Samsudin, Ammirul Emmran, Joshua Pereira, Muhaimin Suhaimi (Ryan Syaffiq 74'), Khairul Amri (Hazim Faiz 63'), Jonathan Tan, Fareez Farhan