[Edited by SGfootball]
by Hiranand Sunny Naresh
Published at 9:46 pm, February 11, 2012
Winning big in front of their home fans will give the LionsXII a massive boost ahead of their next game against Perak. TODAY POOL PHOTO
Not many pundits and critics thought the LionsXII will get anything from their match against Negeri Sembilan, who have proved to be a hard team to beat in recent Malaysian Super League season.
But the LionsXII obviously paid no attention to the script, putting up their best performance of the season to secure all three points with a superb 3-1 win.
The Lions started the match at a blistering pace.
Safuan Anuar, who was a shock replacement for Agu Casmir, was a nuisance upfront, fouling the Negeri goalkeeper twice in the first ten minutes.
It was all uphill for the LionsXII from then , with Shahril Ishak, Safuan and Shahdan Sulaiman combining well to put the Negeri defence under immense pressure.
Unfortunately, they were let down by poor finishing as the Negeri custodian was hardly tested in the first half.
But the LionsXII got their break around the half hour mark when a Negeri defender handled the ball in the area. The referee awarded the home side a penalty without any hesitation.
Captain Shahril stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake from the spot to give his lead a valuable lead.
Shahril Ishak makes no mistake from the spot. TODAY POOL PHOTO
The LionsXII were lucky not to be reduced to ten men just before half-time as Baihakki Khaizan knocked down the Negeri goalkeeper but was not issued a second yellow card, much to the anger of the Negeri players and fans.
But their agony was made worse in the second half when Shahdan Sulaiman doubled the LionsXII’s lead.
The midfielder finished off an excellent passing move involving him, Shahril Ishak and Safuan Anuar and latched on to Safuan’s brilliant back-heel to send the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
The LionsXII then sealed the points on the hour mark after Safuan once tore the Negeri defence apart with his strength and squared a pass to Shahril Ishak to tap in his second goal of the night.
LionsXII coach then started resting his big-name players with Yasir Hanapi and Agu Casmir coming on for Shahdan Sulaiman and Shahril Ishak respectively.
The crowd however, were not happy about Agu’s introduction and starting booing the minute he stepped on the field.
Negeri poured men forward after that in an effort to get a consolation goal but try as they might, they could not find a way past the LionsXII defence and instead, left gaping holes in the back.
He huffed and he puffed, but Negeri Sembilan striker Effa could not blow the LionsXII defence down. TODAY POOL PHOTO
Sufian almost made them pay for that but his acrobatic effort in the 85th minute, but missed the mark by mere inches.
Negeri had a chance to salvage some pride in the dying minutes by Effa could not connect with a pass from his team-mate and the visitors’ bext chance of the match went begging.
But they did get their consolation goal with the last kick of the game, while LionsXII midfielder Isa Halim got a yellow card for handling the ball on the line in the build up to the goal.
When the final whistle blew, the Jalan Besar stadium erupted and fans gave the LionsXII the standing ovation they truly deserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment