Singapore in Tiger Cup final

Singapore - A Noh Alam Shah hat-trick led Singapore to their first Tiger Cup final since 1998 as the city-state beat an eight-man Myanmar 4-2 in extra-time in a hot-tempered Tiger Cup semifinal second-leg match Sunday.

Singapore advanced 8-5 on aggregate after they had won the first leg 4-3 Wednesday and will meet the winners of the Malaysia-Indonesia clash.

The match will probably be remembered for Alam Shah's three goals as much as it will for a 20-minute span where three Myanmar players were sent off for indiscipline by Japanese referee Kamikawa Toru.

Myanmar had stormed into a two-goal lead through midfielders Soe Myat Min and Aung Kyaw Moe, but the match turned dramatically in favour of the hosts after that, when striker Yan Paing was sent off in the 71st minute for a second bookable offence.

Singapore - and Alam Shah - took full advantage, scoring three minutes later with a crisp header.

As they drove forward with more purpose, Singapore's Indra Sahdan Daud was pulled down in the box by fullback Zaw Lyn Tun with just two minutes remaining.

Zaw was sent off, and teammate Moe Kyaw Thu also received his marching orders for kicking dirt at the referee in dissent.

But Indra muffed the spot kick to send the already-tense game into extra-time.

Alam Shah scored again in the 92nd and 93rd minutes before Agu Casmir completed scoring 18 minutes into the extra period.

Events threatened to boil over when Singapore defender S. Subramani was hit on the head by a water bottle thrown by Myanmar's reserve keeper Tun Tun Lin from the bench.

Tun was sent off.

The other semifinal will be played Monday in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia leading 2-1.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin