Our Bulls emerged 2-1 victors over Albirex Niigata FC (Singapore) in this season's final Jurong derby at Jurong East Stadium on Monday evening, with Chang Jo Yoon undoubtedly the star of the show.

Having already worked his way back into the first team with a commendable outing in our goalless draw with Sengkang Punggol, the Korean did even better against Albirex, scoring the opening penalty and having a big hand in the second-half clincher.

It was a sweet way for Yoon to announce his comeback, after having gone through a long test of confidence and appearing to have faded out of the side.

And even though the football on the night was not the greatest, the three points would be very useful indeed in our bid to catch fourth-placed Geylang United.

Admittedly things did not start on a convincing note, and a shot from Bruno Suzuki Castanheira 18 minutes in had everyone rattled as the ball went out off the foot of Zakariah Nerani's left-hand goalpost.

There might also have been a bit of good fortune for our heroes five minutes later, when the assistant referee flagged for what was indicated to be a handling offence by Albirex midfielder Michihisa Nagasawa when he was trying to clear Jaslee Hatta's free kick.

Yoon made sure not to waste the penalty, though, sending Koto Kobayashi the wrong way with his firm effort as the White Swans spent more energy feeling upset about the call than actually playing football.

The few times they threatened to cause any real trouble, our backline responded solidly, Bah Mamadou looking particularly outstanding with his high level of alertness.

The same could not be said of the Albirex defence, leading to their mistake on 52 minutes that allowed Yoon's pass into the penalty area to break nicely for Fazrul Nawaz.

Fazrul promptly took his chance to send the ball past a stranded Kobayashi for a firm 2-0 lead, and even though the hosts kept throwing bodies forward, they simply lacked ideas.

Only an injury-time strike by substitute Akiya Wada, who had shown good speed of thought to go for a first-time effort off a cross from the right, prevented our brave fighters from going home with a clean sheet.

The win though was never in doubt, and it was all down to the determination and graft Yoon showed as everyone celebrated his deserved return to first-team action!

GFC