Malaysia FA Cup: LionsXII beat Betaria 2-0 to cruise into quarter-finals

Story by Stefanus Ian/Red Sports

Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday, March 10, 2012 — The LionsXII turned on the style in the second half of their match against Negeri Sembilan Betaria FC, scoring two goals to secure a 2-0 win and a place in the Malaysia FA Cup quarter-finals.

Shahril Ishak continued his streak of hot form with the opening goal, with Sufian Anuar sealing the match six minutes from normal time with a second goal.

The away side’s best chance came in the 62nd minute when Afiq Akmal played an incisive pass through the defense for Dhurai Nandhagopal. But after Dhurai went past two defenders, his shot was saved by Izwan Mahbud.

The visitors seemed more interested in roughing up the home side rather than playing football. There were so many late challenges it was surprising the first yellow card of the game was only awarded in the 25th minute.

Hamdan Ibrahim, Betaria’s assistant head coach, disagreed his team were overly physical.

“We did not go for the hard tackling, we wanted to hold the game and look for the counter attack,” he said.

The home team had a few chances before the break but could not capitalise on them. To be fair, they were mostly half-chances but the attacking players did not seem to be able to anticipate these chances. The rough tactics of Bertaria seemed to work its magic as the boys in white could not find their usual rhythm.

It was a scrappy first half with both sides struggling to make any significant headway. With all the clashes, injury scares, and time wasting from the visitors, the LionsXII could not impose themselves on the game.

With only 38 minutes on the clock, LionsXII coach V Sundramoorthy sent on Khairul Nizam for Firdaus Kasman, to good effect.

“I wanted to use his height and physique in attack,” said Sundram. He also added that he “did not expect Betaria to be so defensive.”

Within the first few minutes of the start of the game Sufian had a chance in the six-yard box but could only chest the ball wide. It was the same for Shahril in the 41st minute. The skipper could not shake off his marker and make a connection after the ball was brilliantly worked into the box by Nizam and Sufian.

The two teams went into the dressing rooms on level terms with neither side looking like they would be able to break the deadlock.

The game finally came alive in the second half. Betaria came out fighting after the break as they enjoyed a spell of dominance early on. Ijeze had a good chance when he was presented with a clear volley just outside the box. However, he could not keep his shot down.

Five minutes before the hour, the LionsXII took the lead after some nifty passing around the box. Sufian held up the ball and squared the ball to Isa Halim. The midfielder then found Shahril, who managed to wriggle away from his marker and had the composure to sidestep the last defender before putting the LionsXII ahead with a left-footed shot.

With Betaria needing to find a goal, the game started to open up and up stepped Shahdan Sulaiman to take centre stage.

Given time and space in the middle, Shahdan Sulaiman was devastating. Twice, he turned provider for Sufian. The striker’s first effort was amazingly saved by Faizal Yusoff despite the latter having dived the wrong direction.

Sufian gave Faizal Yusoff no chance with the second one though.

With six minutes left in regular time, a beautiful back heel by Shahdan Sulaiman found Sufian in the box and the striker then successfully chipped the ball over the oncoming goalkeeper to effectively seal the team’s progress into the quarter-finals.

It was cruise control from there on for the home side. An injury scare late in the game was all that concerned the LionsXII when Hariss Harun stayed on the ground following a late challenge by Ijezie.

“It is just a knock and I should be able to recover soon,” commented the 21-year-old after the game. With so many players out, the injured Hariss was confident that the bench players can step up and fill the gap.

“The most important thing for the players is to keep their momentum going into the next game,” said Hariss.

During the press conference, Sundram emphasised the team would not be signing any players from the S.League clubs but may take on some players from the Young Lions team.

“I will manage the squad with what we have and I will give the bench players a run-out,” he said.

Final Score
LionsXII 2 Betaria FC 0

Scorers
LionsXII — Shahril Ishak (55′), Sufian Anuar (84′)

Lions XII Lineup
Izwan Mahbud, Isa Halim, Madhu Mohana (Shaiful Esah 53′), Shahdan Sulaiman, Hariss Harun, Shahril Ishak (C) (Yasir Hanapi 87′), Irwan Shah, Sevki Sha’ban, Firdaus Kasman (Khairul Nizam 38′), Sufian Anuar, Shakir Hamzah

Unused substitutes: Hyrulnizam Juma’at, Taufiq Rahmat, Safirul Sulaiman, Safuwan Baharudin

Betaria FC Lineup
M Ravinthiran (C), Afiq Akmal (K Sathian 85′), Azrine Effendy, Dhurai Nandhagopal, Saufi Ibrahim, Afendi Ishak (Emmanuel Junior 63′), Nasrullaj Haniff, S Harivarman, Michael Ijezie, Faizal Yusoff, Fauzi Kadar