Singaporean starlet Safuwan Baharudin has always had the limelight on him back at home but after scoring his second goal for Melbourne City FC on Wednesday night against the Western Sydney Wanderers, the versatile defender has the rest of the Hyundai A-League on notice.
Safuwan has started in 5 matches this season and with two goals already under his belt, the man labeled the Singaporean Tim Cahill said he has just been happy to contribute to the team.
“I have been shifted around for the past couple of games and for the past two I’ve settled down at left back, it has been good,” Safuwan said.
“I’ve completed four 90 minute performances back to back. It’s an achievement for myself because I’ve been wanting to break the first team and I’ve even got a goal or two,
“I always want to improve and at the end of the day, I really want to achieve something here.”
His 28th minute goal gave Melbourne City FC the lead at Pirtek Stadium and the Singaporean knew that if he was in the penalty area, it would only be a matter of time before he would find the back of the net again.
“A strength for my game is getting into the box for corners and getting headers into the goal,” Safuwan said.
“It’s definitely not easy in Australia with the physical aspect and they are tall, good in the air but they tend to loosen up here and that’s when I know I can capitalise on their mistakes,
“At that moment the ball came into Paddy (Kisnorbo), I knew that I could get something out of it. Eventually, it dropped right in front of me and it gave me the chance to hit it on target.”
But the journey so far for Safuwan from Singapore to the Hyundai A-League has been a pleasurable experience and the 23-year-old said he has more to offer.
“It has been wonderful here,” Safuwan said.
“I’ve learnt a lot while I’ve been over here both physically and mentally. It’s been great training here because in Singapore, we don’t have such good players back home and the set up is different here because they emphasise playing football more than getting those long balls up from the back to the top,
“It’s been an amazing journey and i hope to continue now from the position I am in.”
