Short Take of the League Cup Final

DPMM fans before the game (snapped outside the Stadium)

"Expectations are high and the whole Brunei are exciting about it." said Aiqbal, a fan specially flew from Brunei to catch Brunei DPMM in action in their first quest for sliverware in their maiden S.League season.

According to him, there were a total of approximately 500 fans , comprised of local-based and visiting Bruneians to cheer their team on.

"I go for a one-nil win for my team," added Aiqbal who attributed the success of DPMM to the "enjoyment" everybody is deriving from their current fine form and said coach Vjeran Simunic is a "fan's man" in the old-rich sultanate.

BEFORE THE GAME

The calm moment before the kick-off at tunnel

The trophy they are fighting for

The DPMM fans made their presence felt.

THE GAME IN SUMMARY

Everybody knew very well that in any Cup final match, the most important thing is to grab the lead as soon as possible, not to be lagged behind for large part of it and so as to keep pace with one another throughout the 90 minutes.

With that theory in mind both SAFFC and DPMM gave the fans at the Jalan Besar Stadium an epic start of a memorable game.

Barely fifth minute into the game, the Warriors' skipper Aleksandar Duric headed home off a Hafiz Osman's cross from the right before Croatian defender Rene Komar struck from outside to level the scores in the ninth minute.


End-to-end actions dominated large part of the first half as fans were treated to pacey game of football.

However, it was a rather tepid affair in the second half as compared to the first as both teams were much more cautious in their play.

Fair to say though both DPMM and SAFFC had their fair share of chances to seal the game but poor finishing and stout defence stood their way.

So much to the dismay of some fans, the match went into extra time.

And being the most cruel way to decide the outcome – Brunei DPMM snatched the League Cup after the match headed to the ultimatum penalty-shootout following the same scoreline after the extra 30 minutes of play.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE

"We were lucky and we didn't play well as a lot of players were playing according to instructions and not taking anything away from DPMM who were very well-organized and played well." said SAFFC coach Richard Bok (left in above picture) in his post match assessment.

"After that goal (the equalizer), some players tried to play their own game and we tried to come back in the second half by putting pressure on them but nothing came out." added coach Bok

"Basically, we tried to go as far as possible, tough game like this is good preparation to see where the team can improve."coach Bok concluded.

"The game was not bad but both sides missed some very good players" commented DPMM coach Vjeran Simunic (above) after the match.

"To me SAFFC is always the best team as they won many titles and it's not easy to beat SAFFC but we did something special (tonight) as we put 150% of effort for this moment and we deserved where we are to be in the final." added Simunic

DPMM's players and fan posed with the League Cup after the match.