Referee Shukri Nor was the centre of attention when twice in the last 10 minutes, he denied Kuala Lumpur legitimate penalty appeals that would have given the city side a famous win over giant neighbours Selangor on Tuesday.
The performances of the match officials, who also missed a deliberate stamp by Selangor's Asraruddin Putra Omar on KL's S. Sivaraj, kept Selangor's "Mission 33" alive as they remain in the hunt for a quarter-final spot from Group D after the 68th Klang Valley ended 0-0 in Selayang.
It was the first time in 22 meetings going back to April 2000 that Selangor failed to score against KL but despite dominating the first half, their Malaysia Cup dreams could just have easily been buried.
It was the first time in 22 meetings going back to April 2000 that Selangor failed to score against KL but despite dominating the first half, their Malaysia Cup dreams could just have easily been buried.
Shukri waved away KL's claim for a penalty in the 80th minute when Asraruddin tripped Azwan Malek in the box before Yong Kuong Yong was sent sprawling by goalkeeper G. Jeevananthan five minutes later only for the referee to book the KL forward for a "dive".
In between, Asraruddin was seen stepping on the back of Sivaraj as the KL player lied on the ground with Astro Arena's recording of the match confirming all three incidents.
As is the case involving the performance of match officials, barred from commenting are players and coaches which left KL coach Razip Ismail suffering in silence.
As is the case involving the performance of match officials, barred from commenting are players and coaches which left KL coach Razip Ismail suffering in silence.
"In my mind, it was two clear penalties but instead my player was booked," said a frustrated Razip, who would have noted his side failed to get a single shot on target. "Had the decisions gone our way, we would have won.
"But I'm satisfied with the performance of my team against a Selangor side loaded with internationals. We did not manage to score but the one point is invaluable.
"We raised our performance in the second half. In the first half we struggled because of the water-logged pitch but we defended well and responded by launching attacks in the second half."
KL are not taking the perceived injustices lying down as team manager Nokman Mustaffa confirmed yesterday they had submitted a formal complaint to the FA of Malaysia with video evidence of Asraruddin's stamp and to get Kuong Yong's yellow card rescinded.
Selangor should have won the game in the first half but Rudie Ramli, Fadzli Saari and Amri Yahyah all missed good scoring opportunities although KL goalkeeper Norazlan Razali was also responsible for keeping the score 0-0.
Kuong Yong had KL's lone chance in the first half but shot wide after going one-on-one against Jeevananthan while P. Gunalan missed the target from close range with a wayward header for Selangor in the second half.
Safiq Rahim was again left on the bench at the start by Selangor coach K. Devan, who rued his side's wasteful finishing.
"Our finishing was poor and we seemed to be doing things the hard way but qualification (for the quarter-finals) is still open.
"The (rainy) weather was also a problem which affected our fast, attacking football which gave KL the advantage," said Devan, who added that he will only use Safiq sparingly in the group stage.
Selangor, chasing a 33rd Malaysia Cup title, dropped to third in Group D on four points, trailing KL (seven) and Kuala Terengganu T-Team (six) at the halfway stage of the preliminary rounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment