The Lion City Sailors’ 16-match unbeaten streak in the Singapore Premier League (SPL) came to an end on Sunday (4 May) evening, following a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Geylang International at Our Tampines Hub (OTH).

Despite taking a 2-0 lead through goals from Lennart Thy and Shawal Anuar, the Sailors were undone by a spirited second-half comeback from the Eagles, who had been winless in their previous six outings across all competitions.

It was an uncharacteristically off-colour performance from the Sailors, who looked set to continue their fine run of form until Geylang mounted their response after the break.

“It is what it is. The defeat at this point definitely doesn’t help our season,” said Head Coach Aleksandar Ranković. “We went 16 games without a defeat, so maybe it had to happen at one point.”

The evening kicked off with a heartwarming gesture, as children from Chaoyang School accompanied the players of both teams onto the pitch – courtesy of a collaboration between the Sailors and APSN (formerly known as Association for Persons with Special Needs).

Despite the absence of Song Uiyoung and Bart Ramselaar, the Sailors started strongly and created the first notable chance of the match in the 14th minute. Maxime Lestienne did well to keep the ball in play near the touchline before whipping in a cross that Lennart met with a strong leap, but his header flew just wide.

A few minutes later, Maxime had an effort of his own that missed the target, but the Belgian winger soon played a decisive role in the game’s opening goal.

Rui Pires found Maxime in space, and the 32-year-old threaded a brilliant eye-of-the-needle pass to Lennart in the box, who showed great awareness to turn sharply before firing home to make it 1-0 in the 34th minute.

Just four minutes later, the Sailors doubled their lead — and once again, Maxime was at the heart of the move, as his inch-perfect cross into the box found an unmarked Shawal, who made no mistake with a firm header into the back of the net.

It looked to be smooth sailing for the Sailors as the game approached half-time, but the complexion of the contest suddenly shifted when Geylang pulled one back. Tomoyuki Doi – currently the SPL’s top scorer – reacted quickest to a rebound to reduce the deficit to 2-1 just before the interval.

“At 2-0 up, we weren’t really in trouble. But before half time, we brought them back into the contest,” lamented Ranko. “Thereafter in the second half, the way we gave away two goals for them to win… it’s not something that either I or my team is used to.”

Geylang remained patient in their search for an equaliser after the break, with both sides probing cautiously until the game burst into life in the final 20 minutes.

The breakthrough for the Eagles came in the 73rd minute, courtesy of their Japanese duo. A lofted ball over the top from Takahiro Tezuka caught the Sailors’ defence off guard, and with goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud stranded in no man’s land, Ryoya Taniguchi calmly slotted home to level the score.

The Sailors had a golden opportunity to regain the lead shortly after, but Maxime’s close-range free-kick failed to trouble Rudy Khairullah in the Geylang goal.

Then came the decisive blow in the 86th minute. Geylang, the league’s second-highest scoring team after the Sailors, launched a lethal counter-attack — Vincent Bezecourt’s incisive pass found Doi, who rifled an unstoppable shot past Izwan to make it 3-2.

It was Doi’s 44th league goal in what has been a record-breaking campaign for the prolific Japanese forward.

Abdul Rasaq Akeem was introduced in the closing stages, but Geylang held firm to see out the win at OTH — handing the Sailors a league result they have not been accustomed to for quite some time.

“We lacked intensity tonight. The duels were far away from their forwards. Moreover, in the second half, they had a lot more patience, and I think we lacked that aspect as well,” Ranko candidly reflected in his post-match assessment.

Despite the setback, the Sailors remain in control of their SPL title ambitions. They currently sit eight points clear of BG Tampines Rovers, although having played a game more — and know that two wins from their remaining matches will still be enough to seal the championship.

Next up for the Sailors is a clash against bottom-placed Tanjong Pagar United on Saturday, 10 May, before a quick turnaround to face Balestier Khalsa four days later.

“The only thing I can say right now is that we’ve made the title race exciting,” Ranko added. “We have an eight-point lead, even if we’ve played a game more. But we still have destiny in our own hands.”