By Lai Jun Wei (with information from sleague.com, courtesy of FAS)

Tampines Stadium, Monday, February 16, 2009 – The Tampines Rovers were held to a 0-0 draw in the opening game of the 2009 S.League Football Championship season. Home United’s Peres de Oliveira was guilty of missing a crucial penalty awarded in the 58th minute after a hand ball by Noh Alam Shah in the goalkeeper’s box.

His attempt originally found the net, but teammate Kenge Ludovick was ruled to have encroached into the area. The second time around, Oliveira’s attempt hit the crossbar and bounced out. It was the second consecutive competitive match that Oliveira had missed from the penalty spot. Last year, in the title deciding match against the Singapore Armed Forces FC, Oliveira also missed his penalty to gift SAFFC the win.

Tampines had recently announced their intention to bring an end to their trophy drought. According to Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao (Tampines change tactics in charge towards medal, Sunday, February 15, 2009), theyditched their previous 3-5-2 formation and have adopted a new approach.

Head coach Voraman Chitavanich said that the team is stronger than last year and they are aiming for a trophy and a top-four finish.

Tampines have signed Frenchman Benoit Croissant, who joined from Bahraini side Al Najma. According to a report from sleague.com (Title-starved Stags snap up Croissant, Tuesday, 3 February, 2009), Croissant has a wealth of experience, having played for various league clubs in Europe and the Middle East, including English Championship side Sheffield United.

He expressed that Tampines has several good national players and was surprised at their high playing standards when he first saw them.

Tampines also welcomed back striker Noh Alam Shah, who finished serving his one-year ban. Japanese midfielder Akihiro Nakamura also switched from Woodlands Wellington to play for the Stags this season.

Thai midfielder Sutee Suksomkit, national custodian Hassan Sunny, winger Ridhuan Muhammad, midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin and Qiu Li are some of the familiar faces who are still at Tampines for this season.

The team recently lost Khairul Amri due to a broken metatarsal in his right foot, his second foot injury in four months.

With regards to the draw with Home United, both coaches were still relatively pleased with the outcome. "Considering the chances we had in the second half, we should have scored but I’m quite happy to have drawn," said Tampines coach Chitavanich. “We got one point, when we could have ended up with zero.”

Home United coach P N Sivaji said,"I think it’s a fair result. Both teams tried to come out and win. We’re happy to have drawn, although we could have scored from the spot if not for encroachment.”

Tampines Rovers will play Woodlands Wellington on Thursday, February 26th, at Woodlands Stadium while Home United will play last year’s wooden spoonists Balestier Khalsa at Clementi Stadium on the same day.