HRH Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office (R), HRH Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah (2nd R), HRH Prince 'Abdul Malik (2nd L) and other members of the Royal Family during last night's Singapore League match against Tampines Rovers at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas. DPMM FC lost 2-1.Infofoto
DPMM FC's Roy O'Donovan (R) runs for the ball during last night's Singapore League game against Tampines Rovers at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas. BT/Md Asdeny Yakub
DPMM FC failed to break their Tampines Rovers curse as they were denied a victory by the woodwork twice.
Brunei's only professional team succumbed to the three-time defending champions again after a 2-1 heartbreak in their Singapore League (S-League) match at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas last night.
They remain winless against Tampines in all five meetings - two of which have ended in draws - and this is the third time that the Singaporeans found the back of the net late in the game.
It was also Steve Kean's first defeat of the S-League season and also the first time they let in a goal, with the Stags leaping over DPMM FC to take sole possession of the top.
DPMM FC put up a dominant showing but were made to pay the price for wasting their chances upfront, with skipper Rosmin Hj Mohd Kamis and Roy O'Donovan both having attempts rattle the posts within two minutes of each other.
Kean was disappointed with the outcome as he believed they should have walked away with all three points.
"I'm disappointed because we did enough to win.... I would have even been disappointed with a draw," said Kean in an interview with the media after the match.
"We created enough to win two games.
"We were on top, hit the post (twice) and even had a chance for a penalty. We needed to be more ruthless to score and could have gotten full points.
"I'm disappointed with the second goal as we should have put more pressure on the ball," continued the former Blackburn Rovers manager.
DPMM FC started the match strongly and deservingly took the lead through Roberto Alviz in the seventh minute when Joseph Gamble set up a trailing Alviz to rocket home his shot past Tampines keeper Hyrulnizam Juma'at.
There was an appeal for handball from DPMM FC's marquee signing O'Donovan when he had his shot blocked by Norihiro Kawakami three minutes later.
Tampines began to settle down and had their only chance in the first half through Shahdan Sulaiman in the 20th minute, though his deflected shot was saved by Wardun Yussof.
O'Donovan had a good strike in the 39th minute but Hyrulnizam put up a good save.
The former Sunderland striker had another chance the next minute after connecting on an Azwan Ali Rahman cross but was denied by Hyrulnizam's finger tips.
Brazilian Rodrigo Tosi rose the highest on another Azwan cross in the 44th minute but failed to hit the target.
Tampines didn't get many chances but pounced once given.
The Stags equallised through S-League top scorer Miljan Mrdakovic after a failed clearance by the home side in the 56th minute.
The Tampines marquee signing got behind the defence and easily slotted it past Wardun for his fifth of the campaign.
DPMM FC almost responded immediately through O'Donovan in the 58th minute but Hyrulnizam once against put up a brilliant save.
Tampines, who had used all three substitutes by then, were basically down to 10-man after Abdil Qaiyyim picked up an injury in the 62nd minute.
However, the defender would stay on the pitch for the remainder of the game.
Wardun had to come up with back-to-back saves in the 65th minute to prevent Tampines from adding to the scoresheet.
Tosi had a good chance in the 70th minute with his shot going across goal, with O'Donovan only able to hit the side netting.
DPMM FC looked to have regained the lead in the 72nd minute but captain Rosmin Hj Mohd Kamis saw his shot off the post.
Two minutes later Rosmin had his attempt saved before O'Donovan pounced on the rebound to be denied by the post once again.
It was heartbreak late on as Shahdan struck in the 89th minute to complete the Tampines comeback.
DPMM FC looked to have salvaged a point one minute into injury time after O'Donovan scored, but the strike was flagged for offside.
Over at the Pasir Gudang Stadium in Johor, Malaysia, Home United picked up their second victory of the season with a 3-0 triumph over Harimau Muda B ( Malaysian national Under-21 team).
Fazrul Nawaz netted a brace with goals in the 44th and 55th minutes while Qiu Li also got on the scoresheet in the 86th minute.
