Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
DPMM FC coach Adrian Pennock believes that they are the underdogs when they open their Singapore Premier League title defence against Tampines Rovers FC tomorrow night at the Hassanal Bolkiah Nationak Stadium in Berakas.
The Stags are the only team to defeat DPMM FC on their home ground last season with a 1-0 victory after a Jordan Webb goal separated the two sides on September 18.
“We are coming in as the champions but no one is talking about us - just like last year. They all talking about the so-called bigger teams and their foreign players,” said Pennock in an interview with BruSports News after a training session recently.
“We are looking forward to it as we are the underdogs this year and it will be extremely hard to retain the title,” he added.
Both sides were initially scheduled to face off in the Community Shield on February 22 but DPMM FC were forced to pull out because of travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 situation.
The Brunei side haven’t had any competitive games so far while Tampines have had five matches under their belt including AFC tournaments.
They are coming off a 1-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa FC on Sunday with new targetman Boris Kopitovic netting the only goal.
He will be a player that DPMM FC will have to keep under wraps having found the back of the net in four of their five games.
They have also signed Japanese playmaker Kyoga Nakamura and Zehrudin Mehmedovic as their foreign under-21 player.
Pennock highlighted that DPMM FC are at a disadvantage this season being the only team to have three imports.
“For some reason the League has given Singapore teams more foreign players than us,” said Pennock.
“I just think that it is a crazy rule but it is what it is. We are playing with only one leg.
“We will just roll up our sleeve and get on with it. Hopefully we can surprise some of the teams this year,” added the Englishman.
DPMM FC have also entered a second team in the Brunei Super League and Pennock hopes that they will be able to see players come through the ranks to the first team.
“I want to blend in some young blood for the future of the club. The B team is so important for us and if they can produce players for us, that would be fantastic,” said Pennock.
“Even (Ha)keme (Said) was only 15 when he came in last year. It doesn’t matter how old you are but if you are good enough then you will be playing,” he concluded.
