Harimau Muda suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to S.League strugglers Courts Young Lions, at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Malacca yesterday.
The away side secured an early lead on the sixth minute mark, after Mohd Farhan flapped at a back pass from Irfan Zakaria’s, allowing Adam Swandi to race ahead with the ball and fire home.
But Harimau Muda’s frustrations did not end there. In fact, it got a lot more worse on the 36th minute, when CYL were handed a spot-kick after Annas Rahmat was adjudged to have handled the ball inside his own box. Amy Recha stepped up to comfortaly dispatch the penalty, making it 2-0 on the day.
Razip Ismail’s men tried to mount a comeback, and to their credit, did dominate possession for large spells as well. But they were guilty of being wasteful in front of goal, and CYL’s goallie was in terrific form in between his sticks.
After the break, Harimau Muda upped their tempo and reduced the deficit on the 68th minute through Arif Anwar’s sensational overhead kick.
Just when you thought the game was on the verge of getting tight, CYL sealed the tie just minutes before the end of the game, as Amy Recha notched his second goal of the game to make it 3-1.
Harimau Muda did manage to pull one back through a spot kick from Arif Anwar in injury time, but it was too late for them to mount a comeback as Courts Young Lions sealed a win that helped them move away from the bottom of the league table.
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