Football: LionsXII lose plot as Terengganu go top with 1-0 victory

By Stefanus Ian/Red Sports

Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday, January 28, 2012 — The return of Shaiful Esah could not propel the LionsXII as they succumbed 1-0 to Terengganu in the Malaysian Super League (MSL). Francis Forkey Doe scored the solitary goal of the match following a sloppy error by the home side while Agu Casmir had two gilt-edge chances near the end of the game but failed to convert them.

Terengganu’s head coach, Mat Zan felt that his side could not cope with the different pitch condition in the opening stages.

“In the first 20 minutes, we made a lot of errors, especially our passing,” he said.

Despite having won their three previous games, Terengganu seemed cautious from the kick-off. Both sides were unwilling to show their hand in the early exchanges with the play being bogged down in the middle of the park.

Chances in front of goal were hard to come by with both defences working hard to keep their clean sheets. Shaiful Esah, however, looked lively on his debut match. Having returned from injury, the winger was full of energy down the left, causing trouble repeatedly for the Terengganu defence. He even managed to get a shot, which went just over the bar, within the first seven minutes of play.

The game finally sprung to life after 20 minutes.

In the 21st minute, Shaiful managed to win a free kick down the left flank. The resulting free kick almost resulted in a goal when his cross fell to Hariss Harun in the six-yard box. Unfortunately, the 21-year-old was caught unaware as he could not direct the ball into the goal.

Terengganu then replied with their first shot on target through Ashari Samsudin in the 27th minute. The pick up in the game tempo was disappointingly disrupted when some of the stadium’s floodlights went off due to a “breaker trip”. It took the maintenance department about 10 minutes to fully restore power to loud cheers from the crowd.

After the delay, Terengganu began to penetrate deeper into the LionsXII’s defence. During first-half stoppage time, which lasted 11 minutes, Francis Forkey Doe had ample time and space to turn and shoot as the home side’s defence fell asleep. Izwan was able to save comfortably but it was a warning shot to the LionsXII.

Following the break, Terengganu came out strong as they started to dominate the game. Tackles were also flying in as the battle in midfield got heated.

Barely three minutes into the second half, Isa Halim received the game’s first yellow card following a late challenge. Terengganu’s Shamsul Kamal was constantly in the thick of the action as his team brought the game to the home side.

After an hour of game time, LionsXII head coach Sudramoorthy introduced Agu Casmir in place of Yasir Hanapi. With Shahril Ishak dropping down to midfield, the LionsXII started to play with a more direct approach.

The move almost paid off when Agu was put through on goal by Shahril in the 76th minute. With only the keeper to beat, the forward inexplicably ballooned his shot to the agony of the home fans. This was to prove costly when Terengganu took the lead three minutes later.

Sundramoorthy felt that Agu should have done better with the chance although he defended the player saying that “maybe he is rusty from the injury.”

A hurried clearance by Hariss from just outside the box ricocheted off Ashari Samsudin and Francis was quickest to the loose ball. With Safuwan backing off on him for fear of giving away a penalty, the striker buried his fourth goal of the campaign with a powerful shot into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Hariss was visibly disappointed after the match.

“I was under pressure so my first reaction was to clear the ball. Unfortunately, it hit the opponent. It was sloppy on my part,” said Hariss.

Agu had another chance to score with two minutes to go. Taufiq Rahmat, who came on for Shaiful Esah earlier, did well to go past his marker down the left flank. He then went on to whip in a cross towards Agu. However, the forward could not get his header on target and the LionsXII eventually lost their second home match this season.

The LionsXII will face Selangor away in their next game on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012. They will have to shuffle their line up considering the injuries that have plagued the team. Isa Halim is also suspended for the next game because he has picked up one too many yellow cards.

It will be interesting to see how the LionsXII pick themselves up from this demoralising defeat.

Final Score
LionsXII 0 Terengganu 1

Scorers
Terengganu — Francis Forkey Doe (79′)

LionsXII Line-up
Izwan Mahbud, Shaiful Esah, Isa Halim, Shahdan Sulaiman, Hariss Harun, Shahril Ishak, Safuwan Baharudin, Juma’at Jantan, Firdaus Kasman, Shakir Hamzah, Yasir Hanapi

Terengganu Line-up
Muslim Ahamad, Shamsul Kamal, Erison Da Silva, Francis Forkey Doe, Abdul Manaf Mamat, Mazlizam Mohamad, Zubir Azmi, Abdul Shukur Jusoh, Ashari Samsudin, Faizal Muhammad, Sharbinee Allawee

Looking for the LionsXII’s fixtures? All here: Singapore LionsXII fixtures

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