Lion City Sailors rue mistakes after 2-1 loss to Bangkok United in ACL

SINGAPORE – The Lion City Sailors were unable to capitalise on their home-ground advantage in the Asian Champions League for the first time, as they squandered a one-goal lead in the 2-1 defeat by Bangkok United at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday.

The Sailors fielded five of their foreign players from the start, including new signing Rui Pires and star winger Maxime Lestienne, but apart from goalscorer Diego Lopes, they were unable to rise to the occasion in front of the crowd of 2,927, which included President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

They were also not helped by the absence of Kodai Tanaka, Bailey Wright and Pedro Henrique, who were recovering from injuries, against the Thai League 1 leaders in the Group F clash.

Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic chose to focus on the positives though, saying after the match: “Looking at the whole game, I think we didn’t really deserve to lose, especially after the first goal, we really stood our ground and didn’t allow Bangkok to create any chances.

“Of course we have to learn in this competition that every mistake can be crucial.”

They started the match with a 5-4-1 formation, clearly distinct from the 4-3-3 system they usually deploy in the Singapore Premier League (SPL).

Rankovic explained that he had been impressed by how the Sailors played in their new formation when he tried it out in the 5-1 friendly loss against Tottenham Hotspur on July 26.

He added: “In this competition, we’re going to need an extra man behind. Of course, the way we build up was like in the SPL, so that was something I was thinking about how I’m going to make it very simple for them, especially on the ball and trying to be compact when we lose the ball.”

Bangkok dominated possession but failed to create clear-cut chances, and were punished when the Sailors took the lead against the run of play in the 25th minute through Lopes.

Christopher van Huizen’s cross from the left was headed away as far as the 29-year-old, who struck a sweet volley off the ground and past Bangkok’s goalkeeper Patiwat Khammai.