There was no love lost between Hougang United and Courts Young Lions on Monday evening as they played out a 1-1 draw at the Hougang Stadium to start their 2015 S.League season.
First half goals from Young Lions' promising attacker Iqbal Hussain and new Hougang forward Francisco Salvador Ela, better known as 'Chupe', meant both sides cancelled each other out and picked up a point apiece in this hard-fought battle.
Being the home side, Hougang tried to assert their authority early on with Japanese forward Takahashi Manato having a couple of opportunities inside the first 10 minutes -- heading wide on the first occasion before being denied by opposition keeper Syazwan Buhari in a one-on-one situation.
However, it was the visitors who managed to break the deadlock on 16 minutes. After some neat passing play, Iqbal received a slide-rule pass from winger Suria Prakash just outside the box before coolly firing home into the bottom right corner past a rooted Ridhuan Bahrudin in the Hougang goal.
The lead proved to be short-lived though as Hougang came roaring back and levelled matters just three minutes later.
Holding off his marker after the ball fell innocuously into his path, Chupe lashed a sizzling shot from a tight angle which proved too hot for Syazwan to handle.
The Young Lions could have retaken the lead on the half hour mark after Hougang centre-back Yuki Uchiyama was adjudged to have handled Shamil Sharif's right-wing cross. But Ridhuan saved the former's blushes by guessing the right way to deny Iqbal's resulting penalty.
The pendulum then swung Hougang's way towards the end of the first half with Chupe heading wide before Fareez's shot from a tight angle was parried away by Syazwan.
The scoreline remained 1-1 at half time and the Cheetahs carried on where they left off after the break.
Uchiyama could not keep his volley down after Shunsuke Nakatake's freekick had caused chaos in the box while Manato's stooping header from Fareez's cross was superbly plucked out by Syazwan.
The away side then had a golden opportunity just after the hour mark when Hougang failed to clear the danger from a freekick, but Shamil somehow prodded wide from six yards out.
Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar threw on attacker Nur Na'iim Ishak for the final 15 minutes, but it was almost one-way traffic for Hougang in the closing stages as Salim Moin's men tried to gather all three points.
Chupe's 20-yard grounder was parried by Syazwan before the latter held on to a fierce Manato long-range drive. There was one last opportunity at the death when Hougang were awarded an indirect free-kick just outside the area after Shakir Hamzah had impended Manato. However Kunihiro Yamashita's resulting effort was unable to beat the Young Lions defensive wall.
Eventually both sides had to settle for the draw which their coaches were satisfied with.
"It's a decent point to start off with," said Hougang coach Salim. "Credit goes to the Young Lions who were aggressive and full of energy which made my team have difficulties in our organisation. The goal which we conceded was due to a lack of understanding (at the back), thus we changed certain things thereafter and I was happy with our performance in the second half. We're capable of doing better and Friday's game against Home (United) will be a very interesting one for us."
Young Lions boss Aide said: "It's definitely a good point. The game could have gone either way but in the end it was the fair result for both teams. We did everything we could despite the challenges and I'm glad that we managed to get something from the first game, unlike the last two seasons.
"Attacking-wise, we could have done a lot better if we had experienced boys upfront but at least Shahfiq (Ghani) should be fit for our next game against Tampines on Thursday."
Hougang United: Ridhuan Bahrudin (GK), Faizal Amir, Yuki Uchiyama, Kunihiro Yamashita, Lau Meng Meng, Fairoz Hasan (Matthew Abraham 86'), Shunsuke Nakatake, Nurhilmi Jasni (C), Fareez Farhan, Francisco Salvador Ela, Takahashi Manato.
Courts Young Lions: Syazwan Buhari (GK), Fadli Kamis, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, Amirul Adli, Shakir Hamzah (C), Shamil Sharif, Farhan Rahmat (Ammirul Emmran 90'), Anumanthan Mohan Kumar, Afiq Mat Noor (Nur Na'iim Ishak 74'), Suria Prakash, Iqbal Hussain.