Singapore continued their dominance over Selangor, thanks to an own goal, in the annual Sultan of Selangor’s Cup match at the Shah Alam Stadium yesterday.
The tightly contested match saw Selangor defender Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar heading the ball into his own net in the 65th minute.
Singapore’s 1-0 win in Shah Alam last night was their sixth since the inception of the series in 2001, having also triumphed in 2004 (joint winners with MPPJ), 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Singapore received RM50,000 while Selangor walked away with RM10,000 for finishing runners-up. The homesters last lifted the Cup in 2008 when they won 4-2.
The visitors paraded most of their national players spearheaded by lanky striker Aleksandar Duric, who was a constant threat to the Selangor backline with his sharp turns.
However, Selangor goalkeeper G. Jeevanathan was in his element as he made several crucial saves to keep the scoreline 0-0 in the first half.
Selangor had their fair share of chances to win the match but the Red Giants, bolstered by two former EPL players Jason McAteer (Liverpool), Jesper Blomqvist (Manchester United) and international Safee Sali, failed to breach the Lions’ backline marshalled by Daniel Bennet.
McAteer came close to opening the scoring towards the end of the first half with a free kick but Singapore keeper Lionel Lewis managed to tip his effort over the bar.
Selangor returned to the pitch with more urgency after the break.
Skipper Mohd Amri Yahyah’s shot was easily saved by substitute goalkeeper Mohd Izwan Mahbud in the 46th minute
Four minutes later, Amri’s free header hit the ground before trickling out of play in the 60th minute.
In the 80th minute, the crowd went wild when Amri had the ball in the net.
But it was not given as the striker was ruled to have handled the ball and was shown the yellow card.
Despite the result, Selangor gave a more decent performance compared to the side who were thrashed 6-0 last year.
Meanwhile, the Selangor veterans beat their Singapore counterparts 3-1 in the curtain raiser before the main event in front of 60,000 spectators.
Selangor head coach P. Maniam opened the scoring in the seventh minute after a good link-up with Dollah Salleh to beat Singapore goalkeeper Shahri Rahim.
Five minutes later, it was Dollah’s turn to hit the back of the net after some good passing inside the Singapore box.
The visitors reduced the deficit through Abdullah Noor in the 16th minute. Dollah was the hero for the Red Giants as he sealed the victory for the homesters with the third goal in the 39th minute.
No comments:
Post a Comment