A look at the Stags

Tampines Rovers celebrating more success

Phnom Penh Crown meet a resurgent Tampines Rovers tomorrow evening in the preliminary one-leg stage of the RHB Singapore Cup, knowing that their hosts are on the up after a rather inconsistent start to their season. Crowned as champions last season, Tampines early season form almost mirrored Crown's own faulty opening to the new campaign. However, a 3-2 victory for Tampines against Harimau Muda on Sunday pushed the Singaporeans up to 3rd spot in the table, after the team known as the Stags early season dip saw them knocked out of the AFC Cup in a group including teams from Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong. With four foreign players allowed in each line-up, Tampines are likely to start the game with their full quota which includes two Croatians, keeper Sasa Dreven and journeyman striker Davor Piskor. French defender Benoit Croissant has played in France, England (with Sheffield United), Holland, Egypt, China, USA and Bahrain, whilst Gligor Gligorov is a Macedonian international who spent six years in the Macedonian 1st Division before a year with a Czech club. They also have naturalized foreigners like Alexsandar Duric, the leading goalscorer in Singapore League history with over 300 goals to his name and once again pushing hard for the league's top scorer award, and defensive midfielder Yugoslavian Fahrudin Mustafic, as well as a host of Singaporean national team players. As a club, Tampines have won both the Singapore League title and the Singapore Cup on three occasions, as well as the Asean club championship in 2005. Certainly one of the powerhouses in Singapore football and a massive test for Crown's young team tomorrow night.