Shahfiq Ghani celebrates his goal in front of the home crowd. (Photo © Johnson Goh/FAS. Used with permission)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday, April 20, 2013 – The Singapore LionsXII beat ATM FA 3–1 at home to go top of the Malaysian Super League (MSL).
It was a real test of the LionsXII’s title-winning credentials. The duo of Baihakki Khaizan and Safuwan Baharudin were ruled out of the game due to suspension troubles. On top of that, vice-captain Hariss Harun was rated as ‘doubtful’ after twisting his knee in the team’s final training session on Friday.
With Johor Darul Takzim taking over at the Malaysian Super League (MSL) summit after a 1-0 win over Pahang FA on Friday, the onus was on the Singaporean side to reclaim the pole position. And they duly did in style in front of 7,198 home fans.
The LionsXII got a pre-match confidence booster as Hariss Harun shook off his injury woes to start alongside Shakir Hamzah at the heart of defence. In midfield, Izzdin Shafiq earned the nod over the more experienced Hafiz Sujad to start alongside Isa Halim. Meanwhile coach V Sundramoorthy opted for the speedy duo of Faris Ramli and Nazrul Nazari on the wings, with captain Shahril Ishak supporting lone forward Shahfiq Ghani.
It was the Lions XII who had the first chance on 2 minutes after Shahril was brought down at the edge of the box, but Shahfiq’s freekick did not manage to clear the wall. Hariss then nodded wide from Shahfiq’s cross a minute later.
ATM took a while to settle down as they carved their first opening on 10 minutes – Christie Jayaseelan firing just over via Marlon James’ backheel. With 11 goals in the MSL so far, there was little doubt the LionsXII defence gave extra attention to the James’ endeavors. Being marked out by the attention of two red shirts, he played the supporting cast again by setting up Shukor Adan who should have done better than blazing over from just outside the box.
With the defence being taken care of, the LionsXII attackers probably felt at ease to pile on the pressure against the visitors. Firstly, on 17 minutes, Nazrul showed his electric pace to get onto a long ball before cutting it back for Shahril, whose left-footed grounder was tipped around the post by ATM keeper Farizal Harun.
The LionsXII strung together their best move in the 26th minute. Faris produced a blockbuster of a run through the heart of the ATM defence in the build-up, but Shahfiq was adjudged to be offside from Irwan Shah’s resulting cross.
However Shahfiq was not to be left disappointed for long as he duly opened the scoring a minute later. A superb move saw Isa Halim releasing Shahril down the right before the latter whipped in an inch-perfect ball for Shahfiq to slot home easily beyond the reach of Farizal.
Shaken by the setback, ATM tried to fight back but without avail. It was frustrating times for the Malaysian side as they began to get frustrated with each minute. It was clearly shown in the 38th minute where they continued play despite Shakir’s injury, riling up the home crowd.
Things would get even worse for them just before half time.
Yet another counter-attacking move saw Shahril releasing Nazrul who looked set to pull the trigger in front of goal before being brought down by Amiridzwan Tajuddin. There was no doubt as to what the end result was – a penalty awarded in favor of LionsXII which captain Shahril put away.
It was the perfect way to go into the break and the Lions XII resumed the second half looking to build on the two-goal lead. Izzdin nearly capped his debut with a goal on 60 minutes as his 35-yarder nearly caught out Farizal.
However just a minute later, ATM FA found a glimmer of hope through their frustrated hitman James. A low-drilled cross from Jayaseelan evaded everyone in the LionsXII box before landing at the feet of the 36-year-old who could not miss from a yard out.
It initially looked like the home side would throw away their healthy advantage when James nodded just over from a Bruno Martelotto cross with Izwan rooted to the spot.
However those worries were truly allayed on 72 minutes.
Faris Ramli went on yet another barnstorming run down the left with an ATM defender just about getting in the way. The leather soon fell to Shahfiq from 25 yards and he took a touch before curling a grandstand finish over the despairing dive of Farizal.
Raucous celebrations soon followed as the Lions XII duly rode out the remainder of the game to end up 3-1 victors on the night.
It was a smile as wide as it could get as Sundram reflected on the superb win which extended the 100 percent home record as well as pushing his side back on top of the MSL table with 27 points.
“I’m on top of the world right now!” he exclaimed at the post-match press conference.
“It’s our best performance of the season, if not one of the best. I didn’t expect beating ATM in this manner. We had our two centre backs out, but the boys really turned up tonight – fighting for every ball, producing great attacks, what more can I ask for?”
The wonderful performance of Shahfiq also did not go unnoticed by the former Singapore forward.
“We all know – the boy’s talented. He takes good set-pieces and is capable of striking a ball very well. It’s essential for us to use him in the home games,” he concluded.
Meanwhile for ATM coach B Sathianathan, he went home a disappointed man.
“We didn’t control the game today and we deserved to lose,” he said bluntly.
However he was gracious in defeat as he pointed out Hariss’ pivotal role in stopping his attack.
“I cannot take the credit away from the LionsXII tonight,” he admitted. “They played without two key players but Hariss played very well in defence considering his injury. Thus they deserved the three points tonight.”
The Lions XII will next go away to Shah Alam to take on arch-rivals Selangor FA on Saturday, April 27.
Their next home game against Selangor PKNS, originally arranged for May 4, has been moved to Monday, May 27.
Final Score
LionsXII 3 TM FA 1
Scorers
LionsXII
Shahfiq Ghani (27’, 72’) – 2 goals
Shahril Ishak (45 + 2’) – 1 goal
ATM
Marlon James (61’) – 1 goal
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