Goals by Khairul Nizam, Fazli Ayob and Fadhil Noh sealed the win to clinch Singapore's second consecutive bronze at the Games.

Singapore started off the match the stronger of the two teams and they took a well deserved lead after Nizam got his second goal of the tournament. He scored through a sublime effort from outside the box which curled into the top corner giving no chance to the goalkeeper.

Shahfiq Ghani nearly gave Singapore a 2-0 lead just before half time when he found himself taking on the entire Laos defence but Laos managed to clear the ball just in the nick of time.

By then, Singapore was dominating possession with the midfield pairing of Hariss Harun and captain Isa Halim looking especially dominant. They managed to negate most of their opponents foray in the Singapore half with timely tackles.

As expected Laos came out firing at the start of the second half but they were not able to breach the tight Singapore defence with Afiq Yunos looking especially unbeatable both in the air and on the ground.

Fazli Ayob made it 2-0 for Singapore with a superb half volley with the outside of his foot on 54 minutes after the hardworking Fadhil Noh broke through on the left and crossed to him.

Laos stepped up the pressure and tried in vain to grab the vital goal that will keep their fast fading bronze medal hopes alive.

Fadhil capped a hardworking performance with Singapore’s third goal with two minutes to go after a clinical counter attack lead by striker Khairul Nizam.

Laos managed to grab a late consolation goal but it was too little too late as the Singapore players dropped to their knees at the final whistle after an exhausting 90 minutes of committed football.

Singapore: Hyrulnizam Juma’at (gk), Faritz Abdul Hameed (45’ Madhu Mohana), Safuwan Baharudin, Afiq Yunos, Irwan Shah, Fazli Ayob, Isa Halim (captain), Hariss Harun, Fadhil Noh (Eddie Affendy Chang 89'), Shahfiq Ghani (Yasir Hanapi 70') , Khairul Nizam

The team will be returning to Singapore on 19 December on flight TG409 at 7.55pm.

Pictures courtesy of Singapore Sports Council