Lennart Thy stole the show at the Bishan Stadium on Sunday (Feb 23), as he scored four goals to inspire the Lion City Sailors to a commanding 5-1 victory over Balestier Khalsa in the Singapore Premier League (SPL).
The result extends the Sailors’ winning streak in the SPL to six matches, keeping them six points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand as they take another important step towards reclaiming the league title.
Balestier came into this contest on the back of consecutive wins in both the SPL and Singapore Cup, but they were overwhelmed from the outset by a relentless Sailors side that wasted no time asserting its dominance.
Just three minutes in, full-back Akram Azman — handed his second consecutive start in domestic competitions — delivered an inch-perfect cross for an unmarked Lennart, who nodded home the opener with ease.
Buoyed by the opener, the Sailors kept knocking on the door, with Maxime Lestienne striking the post and Song Uiyoung denied by Hafiz Ahmad’s quick reflexes in the 18th minute.
But the Sailors’ persistence paid off in the 29th minute when Song lofted a precise long ball to Maxime, who skipped past Madhu Mohana before calmly slotting in to give his side a two-goal advantage.
“Of course, you always want to start well, but you can’t predict scoring in the opening moments every time,” said Head Coach Aleksandar Ranković after the game. “After going 2-0 up, I felt we should have pushed on. But after Thursday’s game against Muangthong United (in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League Two), we were a little fatigued, so we slowed the pace of the game down.”
Balestier nearly halved the deficit five minutes later, but Anton Fase’s goal-bound effort was heroically cleared off the line by a retreating Toni Datković.
That was as good as it got for Balestier in the first half, as their night took a turn for the worse in the 38th minute when left-back Fudhil I’yadh was sent off for a last-man challenge on Maxime.
The Sailors capitalised on their numerical advantage soon after. In first-half stoppage time, Lennart took a deft first touch at the edge of the box, swivelled, and unleashed a venomous strike to score arguably the goal of the night and give his side a 3-0 lead.
Any hopes of a Balestier comeback were dashed within five minutes of the restart. Following a well-worked free kick, Toni found Lennart in the box, and the German striker clinically swept home his third to mark back-to-back SPL hat-tricks.
Balestier did put the ball in the back of the net in the 56th minute, but Kodai Tanaka’s effort was eventually ruled out after a VAR review.
Ranko freshened things up with a triple substitution in the 66th minute, and it paid off instantly. One of the introductions, Abdul Rasaq Akeem, produced an audacious backheel to tee up Lennart for his fourth goal of the night to complete a brilliant personal haul.
This marked only the second time in his career that Lennart had scored four goals in a single match — the first coming in 2015 for FC St. Pauli in Germany’s 2. Bundesliga.
“It was a strong team performance. Scoring early was key, and after the red card, things became more manageable,” said Lennart, who was named Man of the Match. “We’ve learned how to exploit situations when playing against 10 men, and we executed our game plan well.”
Balestier did eventually get a goal back in the dying moments with Tanaka tapping in Fase’s low cross. But that goal was nothing more than a footnote, as the Sailors’ dominant display ensured their grip on top spot remained firm.
“We’ve been consistent across both domestic and continental competitions, and we’re determined to keep this momentum going,” said Lennart, who is now up to 22 SPL goals for the season.
Meanwhile, over at the Jalan Besar Stadium, title rivals BG Tampines Rovers beat Brunei DPMM 1-0 courtesy of a Damir Muminović own goal. The result sets up an intriguing midweek top-of-the-table clash between the Sailors and Tampines on 26 February.
However, with the Sailors set to play their seventh match in 21 days, Ranko acknowledged the mounting physical toll on his squad.
“My biggest concern now is keeping the players fresh and motivated. We’ve only got two days to prepare for Tampines, and that’s a big challenge for my staff,” he admitted. “We’re getting used to this intense schedule, but fatigue is bound to hit at some point.
“But I’m very happy. In the past, we had a really tough time with these types of matches after playing at the continental level. But now, we are improving.”
