Tips:Away to win

Competition: Gombak United FC vs Home United FC
Date & Time: 19 March 2007 1245CET

Gombak United will welcome back forward Gabriel Obatola when they clash head on with Home United this Monday at the Jurong West stadium.

The Nigerian, who scored 11 goals last season, was sidelined for a couple of weeks after going through a hand operation.

Gombak United’s coach Salim Moin said Obatola's return would galvanise his side, who have a win and a loss apiece from their opening two games.

“We’ve been focusing on his fitness for the past one week and he’s back on his feet. He’s ready to go all way out and he is psyched up for the upcoming encounter against Home," said Salim.

“That’s good news for the team as his physical power is excellent and he plays with aggression and has a strong presence on the field.”

The former national player also reckoned that his team is at an all-time morale high after they defeated the Korean Super Reds 3-1 last week.

“Our spirit is pretty good right now after last week’s encounter (with the Super Reds). It’s shown to the others that we’re also a big club and we don’t fear the other big clubs out there.”

For the visitors though, there’s a lot of worry going about.

The Protectors might be without defender Kamarulariffin Abdul Karim, midfielder Shahril Ishak and striker Qiu Li, all of which are suffering from lethargy and injury.

Team Manager KT Velu is also trying to maximise his squad’s fitness just three days after playing a physical match in a 2-1 victory against Liaoning FC.

“We had a hard match on Friday and the pitch conditions didn’t do us a favour. It certainly took a toll on the players and it’ll be difficult to play two consecutive tough matches in such a short period," said Velu.

“Gombak is a strong side this year and they have a very balanced squad of foreigners and locals and we aren’t going to take them very lightly.

"However, we’ll be going there to play and win the match and we’ll have to show our confidence.”

Seemingly in control against Liaoning Guangyuan last week, a series of lapses in concentration nearly cost Home the win with substitute Goh Swee Swee only securing the three points in injury-time.

“We noticed what happened on Friday and it’ll be important that such lapses do not happen again,” said the team manager.

Despite the injury problems affecting Home United’s squad, Salim won’t be taking the twice-champions lightly.

“I think we have a 50-50 chance against them. They have a good set of players and we saw how they coped with injury in last week’s match through substitution.

“However, we’ll be taking full advantage of their lack of match fitness and try to exploit that."