By REDintern Kenneth Tan

Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - In a pulsating clash between two former winners of the Cup, 2007 winners Woodlands Wellington prevailed over 2008 winners Gombak United after 120 minutes of action and a penalty shootout at the end of it.

The game was tied 2-2 after extra-time and Woodlands triumphed 4-3 in the penalty shootout.

The first 15 minutes of the match saw both teams adopting a safe approach which resulted in a lack of action in front of goal. The only notable effort was fired over from ten yards out by Woodlands' Moroccan forward Laakad Abdelhadi (#9) after a Noor Ali (#11) knock down from a corner.

However, the first goal came from Gombak United on 19 minutes. A free kick swung in by Gombak's new Korean recruit Park Kang Jin (#15) was only cleared as far as Jeremy Chiang (#7). With the Woodlands goalie Hafez Mawesi (#18) out of position after coming out to challenge for the ball in the air, the goalmouth was left empty and Chiang proceeded to tap in with a simple right-footed finish.

Left winger Fazli Jaffar (#17) nearly doubled Gombak's lead on 28 minutes as he slalomed his way past two defenders and shot from a narrow angle inside the box. The ball beat Hafez at his near post, but not the post.

The next few minutes saw the forwards of both teams getting frustrated. Gombak United's makeshift striker Goran Subara (#5), primarily a defensive midfielder, was clearly struggling with his new role as he failed to hold up the ball and got called offside a few times.

Meanwhile Woodlands’ Laakad had to feed on scraps due to a lack of support from his teammates. He duly earned a yellow card after constant protests to the referee for his failure to award a foul.

Gombak missed a gilt-edged opportunity to extend their lead on 38 minutes after a horrendous error by Hafez. Hamqaamal Shah’s (#4) cross from the left looked harmless and heading towards Hafez. The ball seemed within his grasp, when he suddenly dropped the ball. However Subara showed why he is not a natural striker by firing it straight over the bar, saving Hafez's blushes in the process.

After the break, Woodlands appeared more determined as they applied more pressure on the Gombak defence. Their efforts were finally rewarded in the 50th minute. A free kick whipped in from the right by Sazali Salleh (#14) was met well by forward Rizawan Abdullah who leaped unmarked to head it into the bottom right corner.

Gombak had a golden chance to hit back four minutes after the goal. Another new Korean recruit Chang Jo Yoon (#20) received a defence-splitting through-pass from Fazli, and found himself against Woodlands defender Kazuki Yoshino (#4) and goalkeeper Hafez. He cut inside Yoshino easily, and got the better of Hafez in a one-on-one. However, his feeble attempt to slot into an empty net was easily cleared by the backtracking Yoshino.

The rest of the second half was marred by a series of fouls from both teams, which stifled the game play. In addition both team lacked the final touch and conviction to finish off their chances.

Thus the game went into extra time. Woodlands substitute Navin Vanu (#36) fired the first shot of the first half of extra time as he got past two men and fired a looping shot from 30 yards which Gombak goalkeeper Zaiful Nizam plucked out of the air.

It was followed by two impressive free kick attempts by both teams. On the 7th minute, Park Kang Jin's attempt from outside the box was tipped around the post by a diving Hafez down his left. Then two minutes later, Laakad's curling free kick on the edge of the area unluckily came off the left woodwork.

The Woodlands substitute, 20-year-old Navin Vanu, a livewire since coming on, provided the threat with a couple of good runs and shots. The Prime League player came up with something special on the 22nd minute. After a scuffed pass, Gombak's Obadin Aikhena failed to clear the ball cleanly. The ball fell to Navin who was about 30 yards from goal.

With no immediate pressure, he proceeded to send a rasping drive into the top left corner of the goal beyond the despairing dive of Zaiful. It was a special goal for the youngster, who ran to the Woodlands bench where all the players and coaches joined together in celebration.

Gombak tried to recover from the shock by applying constant pressure on the Woodlands for the rest of the proceedings. Their efforts seem to be unrewarded after a couple of shots went over the bar.

However the match took a last twist of the tale with barely one minute to go. A short corner was played to Park Kang Jin who crossed the ball to the far post. Obadin tried to get contact with his head but it was cleared out of the box.

Gombak substitute Ridhwan Jamaludin attempted a hopeful header back into the box which looked within Hafez's reach. However Hafez somehow managed to drop the ball within his legs and the ball fell to a lurking Park who slammed home gleefully into an empty goal.

As a result, the match had to be decided by a penalty shootout. Woodlands convert their first three penalties, while Gombak only converted one of them. Gombak captain Jaslee Hatta’s (#3) effort came off the right-hand post, while teammate Ridhwan's weak attempt was stopped by Hafez .

Although Subara converted Gombak's next attempt, Woodlands' veteran defender Winston Yap (#2) failed to seal the win when he sent his shot well over the bar, keeping the Bulls in the game.

Gombak’s Obadin converted his spot kick next to make it 3-3. However the match was decided by Woodlands midfielder (#3) Azlan Alipah who slotted into the top right corner of the goal, wrong footing Zaiful in the process and securing a 4-3 penalty shootout win.

With this victory, Woodlands progress to their second League Cup Final at the expense of Gombak and will play the winners of the second semi-final between Etoile FC and Sengkang Punggol.

"We played as a team, everyone was confident and I think we played some very good football," said Woodlands coach A. Shasi Kumar on the official S-League website (www.sleague.com). "I wanted us to play good football this evening and I think we did that, so on that basis I feel we thoroughly deserved the win."

Score Breakdown
Gombak vs Woodlands
Half-Time: 1-0
Full-Time: 1-1
After Extra-Time: 2-2
Penalty Shootout: 3-4

Gombak United Lineup
#1 – Zaiful Nizam (GK), # 3 – Jaslee Hatta (captain), # 6 – Bah Mamadou, #17 – Obadin Aikhena, #4 – Hamqaamal Shah, #11 – Fazli Jaffar, #7 – Jeremy Chiang , #15 – Shafuan Sutohmoh, #16 – Park Kang Jin, #20 – Chang Jo Yoon, , #5 – Goran Subara.

Woodlands Wellington Lineup
# 18 – Hafez Mawasi (GK), #2 – Winston Yap, #4 – Kazuki Yoshino, #5 – Sahairi Ramri, #6 – Anaz Hadee, #3 – Azlan Alipah, #11 – Noor Ali (captain),# 12 – Asraf Rashid, # 14 – Sazali Salleh, #9 - Laakkad Abdelhadi, #19 – Rizawan Abdullah