Tanjong Pagar United recorded their first win of the 2012 Great Eastern-YEO's S.League season by beating Geylang United 1-0 at the Queenstown Stadium on Thursday.

Hafiz Osman slotted home the Jaguars' winner in the 72nd minute after Aliff Shafaein had found him unmarked in the far post, sealing a result which sees them leapfrog Geylang United into 11th place.

Speaking after the game, Tanjong Pagar coach Terry Pathmanathan praised his side's fighting spirit, although he also paid credit to their opponents for matching them all the way.

"My players placed their lives on the line to win the game," Pathmanathan said.

"I think we deserved it [the win], but it wasn't easy as Geylang pushed us to our limits."

The former Singapore international was pleased with the improvement his side have made from their previous performances, having picked up just one point from their first six games, but does not want his team to get too excited just yet.

"I saw the urgency in the players which wasn't present in our previous games," Pathmanathan added.

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"It's too early for us to celebrate. We did well in this match, but it's not the end."

Geylang will be feeling slightly unfortunate they did not come away with at least a point, having dominated large parts of the game.

Mun Seung-man came close with a ferocious effort that Jaguars keeper Shamsudin Hasim did well to keep out in the 35th minute, before substitute Amy Recha Samion wasted a glorious chance after he was played clean through on goal.

And Eagles coach V. Kanan conceded his side only had themselves to blame for failing to get on the scoreboard.

"Amy, Michael [King], Jozef [Kaplan] and Mun had fantastic opportunities to score," Kanan lamented after the game. "Those were relatively easy chances.

"Unfortunately, we just couldn't score. We will need to work on our finishing to prepare for our next game against Tampines Rovers.

"Our goalkeeper had little to do the entire game but that doesn't matter. We need to score goals."

Geylang will play Tampines next Saturday while Tanjong Pagar have a bye.