Unlucky Lions draw a blank against M’sia

SINGAPORE — Going up against an inexperienced Malaysian side, a near full-strength Singapore team was expected to make light work of their Causeway rivals during last night’s friendly match at the National Stadium.

To their credit, the Lions did dominate proceedings against the distinctly unimpressive visitors. But despite hitting the woodwork thrice, and having what looked like a nailed-on penalty claim denied, V Sundramoorthy’s men were simply unable to find the back of the net and were forced to settle for a goalless draw.

It was the first time in 10 years that a game between Singapore and Malaysia had yielded no goals.

In front of close to 25,000 fans, the hosts signalled their intent early on as they pressed Malaysia high up the pitch right from the kick-off.

And it nearly paid dividends in the 14th minute when the impressive right-back Faritz Hameed, making his first start in almost two years, teed up midfielder Izzdin Shafiq for a shot at the edge of the box which forced Malaysia custodian Khairulazhan Khalid into a good save.

But Malaysia proved to be no slouches in attack, as their captain Amri Yahyah forced Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny into an acrobatic save in the 33rd minute.

The Lions, however, came even closer to breaking the deadlock twice in quick succession just three minutes before the break. First, when striker Khairul Amri’s curling shot hit the crossbar, before Hariss Harun also planted a header onto the frame of the goal from the rebound.

Singapore had a good chance to score just four minutes into the second half with a free-kick from 25 yards out, but midfielder Safuwan Baharudin blazed it narrowly over the bar. There was a moment of controversy in the 68th minute, when Singapore winger Faris Ramli went down in the box under the challenge of Rizal Ghazali, but the referee adjudged the Malaysian defender to have played the ball, leading to remonstrations from several of the Lions players.

With full time looming, the Lions began pouring forward in search of a winner, and they came agonisingly close in the 72nd minute, but Daniel Bennett’s header from a corner hit the crossbar once again. That was as good as it got for Sundram’s men as Malaysia defended manfully in the final moments to secure the draw.

As the final whistle blew, a mixture of boos and applause rang around the stadium as many of the Lions, hands on their hips, looked down forlornly at the pitch as they rued their profligacy in front of goal and wondered what could have been had they been more clinical in the final third.

National head coach Sundram, however, defended his team and felt his players did well, despite not scoring. “We all thought that we had the upper hand in the game and everyone in the team thinks we should have at least scored," said the former international.

“But there are a lot of things that I’m happy with. The boys kept the ball very well and played it intelligently. However, we will still need to work on our connection between the players a little.

“Malaysia are also not as bad as many people think. You look at their depth – they have 12 teams in the Super League and 12 teams in the Premier League, as compared to seven local teams here, so they have a larger base.

“But you can tell the players were motivated, as they want to get one over your neighbours. The only thing missing, was that we could not score a goal tonight."

Malaysia coach Ong Kim Swee had reason to feel happy too. “This is a brand-new Malaysia team, so we did well to hold a Singapore team at full-strength and on their home ground. If we continue to improve from here, we can look forward to better results.”

Singapore will continue their preparations for the year-end Suzuki Cup by taking on Hong Kong in an away friendly next Tuesday.