The Lion City Sailors Women’s Team were held to their first draw of the 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL) season, as they played out a 0-0 stalemate with Hougang United on Sunday (13 April) night at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium.
Coming into the fixture off the back of victories against Albirex Niigata (S) and Balestier Khalsa in March, the result sees the Sailors move to seven points from three matches – still enough to keep them top of the WPL standings.
However, this marks only the fourth time in the club’s history that the three-time defending champions have failed to find the net in a WPL match – the previous occasions being goalless draws with Tanjong Pagar United and Tiong Bahru in 2022, and against Geylang International last season.
This time against Hougang, it was a cagey affair with few clear-cut opportunities, though the Sailors did carve out the better chances in the second half. Despite their best efforts, however, a breakthrough proved elusive – much to the frustration within the Sailors camp.
The Sailors had an early opportunity to seize the initiative as early as the fourth minute, when Sarah Zu’risqha whipped in a cross that Nurhidayu Naszri met with a firm header – only to see it safely gathered by Hougang goalkeeper Intan Afiqah.
Nurhidayu was in the thick of the action again 12 minutes later, firing a shot over the bar as the Sailors looked to assert their dominance.
The Cheetahs, who came into the tie unbeaten with a win and a draw in their previous two games, put in a disciplined shift to restrict the Sailors’ potent attacking line-up.
As the first half drew to a close, Sailors captain Umairah Hamdan tried to lead by example with a speculative effort from distance, but once again, Intan was equal to it as both sides headed into the break goalless.
Looking to inject fresh impetus, Head Coach Daniel Ong turned to his bench at the interval, introducing Yuvika Suresh and Cara Chang in a bid to liven things up in the final third.
The Sailors thought they had finally found the breakthrough in the 55th minute when Sarah slipped a neat pass into the path of Raeka Ee, who side-footed the ball into the net – only for her celebrations to be cut short by the offside flag.
“It was a challenging game. The opponents set up in a very compact low block, and we found it difficult to break them down despite having a fair bit of possession,” reflected Raeka after the match.
The Sailors ramped up the tempo in the final quarter, and nearly reaped the rewards from a flowing move that saw Yuvika’s cross find Cara in space. She teed up Nor Adriana Lim, whose sharp turn and shot drifted just wide.
Then came the game’s biggest moment in the 84th minute. Tia Foong launched a ball into the Hougang box, which resulted in a handball and a penalty for the Sailors.
Syazwani Ruzi stepped up with confidence – aiming for the bottom left corner – but was denied by a brilliant diving save from Intan, who preserved her clean sheet and earned her side a valuable point.
At the other end of the pitch, Hougang ended the game with just two shots on goal across the 90 minutes – both of which were comfortably dealt with by goalkeeper Beatrice Tan.
“There were a few questionable referee decisions that disrupted our momentum at times, but ultimately, we know we still need to do better as a team,” said Raeka.
“We’ll reflect on the performance, identify the gaps, and work on improving for the next match.”
Some questions were raised about possible rustiness within the squad, with the Sailors last featuring in a WPL fixture on 16 March. Raeka, however, refused to use that as an excuse and remained focused on improving the team’s attacking output for the rest of the season.
“Despite the league break, we continued training hard and kept the intensity high. We’ll need to be more clinical in the attacking third and in front of goal,” she explained.
The Sailors will now look to return to their goalscoring ways when they face a winless BG Tampines Rovers side on Saturday, 19 April.
