BG Pathum striker Tomoyuki Doi left Singapore side Geylang International after a prolific 44-goal season in June in search of greener pastures in the Thai League, but on a newly returfed Jalan Besar pitch, Doi wound back the clock on his old stomping ground as he helped himself to his first goal in the ASEAN Club Championship (ACC). Yet it was his compatriot Hide Higashikawa, in opposing colours, who ultimately stole the limelight on Wednesday (Dec 3) night, taking home the matchball after a superb hat-trick that powered BG Tampines Rovers to a comeback 3–2 win.
The hosts trailed 2-0 by the half-hour mark, but Higashikawa dragged his side from the claws of defeat with a clinical display in front of goal, earning praises from BG Pathum head coach Masatada Ishii.
“Tampines were very clinical with their finishing. They took all the opportunities they had very effectively. So that’s what we need to improve on when we return to Thailand,” Ishii said. “Overall, we didn’t have the energy to last the full 90 minutes.”
Despite taking his competition tally to five goals and earning his first treble for the club, Higashikawa remained humble and even saluted his opposite number.
“I watched videos of Doi previously, and I respect his level of performance. In my opinion, I haven’t reached his level yet,” Higashikawa said.
Nevertheless, the victory extended Tampines’ unbeaten streak (three wins, one draw) against the Thai side, having played them on three occasions this year in the Singapore Cup and the AFC Asian Champions League Two. It also lifted them to the top of their group, ahead of Selangor by one point.
Tampines head coach Noh Rahman was satisfied with the final result but felt the side’s first-half display left much to be desired, though he noted they improved as the game wore on.
“The body language of some of the players towards the game was a bit off, and I had to address that at halftime,” Noh said. “We’re fortunate that we got a goal just before halftime. So that gave us a bit of hope going into the second half.”
Doi, who used to be a thorn in Tampines’ side, having plundered nine goals against the Stags during his time in Singapore, opened the scoring as early as the seventh minute, capitalising on a poor clearance by the Tampines defence.
Three minutes later, Tampines spurned a golden opportunity to restore parity when Shah Shahiran had a spot kick well-saved by opposition keeper Saranon Anuin at full stretch.
Then, a sluggish Tampines defence was punished as Brazilian striker Raniel Santana rose highest in the 27th minute to nod past a flailing Syazwan Buhari.
Doi came inches from killing the game off when his free-kick effort had the keeper beaten but rattled off the woodwork.
The Stags capitalised on that let-off just before the interval, pulling one back with the last kick of the half. A free-flowing move involving five players ended with Hide Higashikawa tucking home from close range.
After the restart, Saranon pulled off a handful of saves to keep the lead intact, but his resistance finally broke when an unmarked Higashikawa pounced on a loose ball in the box to level the score.
Then came Higashikawa’s third as the striker took out two defenders on the turn and found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Despite the positive result, there were injury worries for the Stags with Dylan Fox (ankle) a huge omission from the team sheet while Shah (foot) was stretchered off mid-game and substitute Jacob Mahler went down after the final whistle with a suspected hamstring injury.
Tampines will travel to Thailand to face the same opponents in an AFC Asian Champions League Two clash next Wednesday.
