SINGAPORE - He may have impressed in the two-leg World Cup qualifier against Malaysia, but Izwan Mahbud is willing to bide his time to establish himself as Singapore's first-choice goalkeeper.
Having only one senior cap previously, the 21-year-old found himself thrust into the spotlight for the Causeway derby after being called up by national coach Radojko Avramovic following injuries to regulars Hassan Sunny and Lionel Lewis.
But the Courts Young Lions custodian acquitted himself well over the two legs as the Lions won 6-4 on aggregate.
"The coach trusts all of us, and if they recover fully, they will get their spot back as they are much more experienced than me.
"But I'm still young and I will learn from Hassan and Lionel," the 1.82m tall Izwan told Today.
Hassan, 27, is out for at least six months following surgery on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament last month, while Lewis, 28, is recovering from a groin injury picked up earlier this month in an S-League match.
It was Izwan's long punt in the 72nd minute that led to Singapore's equaliser, with Aleksandar Duric heading it back for Shi Jiayi to score, cancelling out Safee Sali's 58th minute opener and silencing the partisan capacity crowd at the Bukit Jalil.
Izwan grew confident by the minute and was unruffled when Malaysian striker Safee berated him for going to ground after a hefty challenge from Tigers defender Fadhli Mohamad.
"I actually didn't hear him as my head was spinning," he said.
"But I was quite nervous in the first five minutes, especially as we had conceded three goals in the first leg. The first five minutes were crucial for us, but slowly, I regained my confidence and forgot about the crowd."
Ironically, it was some timely pre-match advice from the recovering Lewis that helped do the trick for Izwan.
"Lionel told me to smile whenever I felt nervous and it helped," he said. Tan Yo-Hinn
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