Resilience Fuels Late Flurry

U-16 boys get their first Lion City Cup win with late salvo to beat Cambodia 3-0

- Melvyn Teoh

Three goals in eight minutes helped the Singapore Under-16 boys to a 3-0 win over Cambodia in the second match of their Lion City Cup campaign on July 11.

The Cubs controlled proceedings throughout at the Jalan Besar Stadium, twice hitting the bar, before strikes from Aidan Irfan (78th), Farrel Farhan (81st) and Lukyan Tan (85th) sealed their first win of the tournament before 1,004 fans.

Cubs coach Ashraf Ariffin said he was most pleased that his boys, who had lost 2-0 to the Philippines in their opening game, did not give up and finally found the net.

"That is something that we were waiting (more than) 150 minutes for," he said. "I think the boys have shown in these matches that the desire to fight is a non-negotiable.

"We created enough chances, and then when the ball hit the bar twice, we all looked at each other asking, 'Is it another day like this?'.

"But this is where a bit of luck in football is crucial. We created enough chances to be lucky. If we didn't put the ball in the dangerous areas, we won't score.

"This is the resilience that we want to see from the players, that they keep trying. They don't get frustrated, they try again."