The Northern Warriors defeated Indonesia's Institute Teknologi Medan (ITM) 2-1 in the final match of the preliminary round at the Padang Rani, UiTM Arau. The goals were scored in the second half through Mohd Rahizan Md Kasmani and Mohd Nasron Basri (pic). ITM took the lead from the spot when Dominic Roy was punished for pushing the Indonesian striker and the referee pointed to the spot. Earlier, Mohd Rahizan could have taken the team to lead the match when UUM was awarded a penalty when Syed Mohamad Hilmi Shahabudin was pulled in the box but unfortunately he ballooned the ball away. K.Tharmendran was substituted earlier in the first half with Khairul Abd Rahim while Onouha Keleche was replaced by Mohd Rahizan Md Kasmani.
Head Coach, Azman Eusoff was very annoyed with the way the team performed and gave them some tough words and challenged the team to rise to their true potentials by winning the game. That had somehow lifted the team's moral and improved their performance. The team equalized through the penalty taken by Mohd Rahizan Md Kasmani in the 56th minute. Dominic Roy limped out with muscle cramp in the 70th minite and had to be replaced by Mohd Sharin Mujin which later switched his position to the left with R.Thevan moved to the right back. Shortly after, Obiekwe Norbert also had to be replaced by Mahama Saiful Kalate for muscle cramp. UUM made another substitution in the 70th minute by bringing in Mohd Nasron Basri in place of the tired Noorhasrul Zainal and that proved to be right when he tipped the ball into the net from a short pass from Mohd Rahizan. Syed Mohamad Hilmi Shahabudin was later being substituted by Muhamad Shafuan Abdul Hamid. The team had numerous chances infront of the goal but wasted by the strikers.
The Northern Warriors will now play Thaksin University of Songkhla (TSU) in the semifinal which is scheduled to be played tomorrow March 31st, 2009 at the Municipal Council field at 8.00am.
No comments:
Post a Comment