ATM suffered a frustrating 4-2 defeat at the hands of Perak in a pre-season friendly clash that took place in Ipoh last night.
Fresh from their 1-0 defeat to Johor DT II a few days back, the Gladiators fielded a decent line-up against Perak, featuring the likes of Norshahrul Idlan as well as their foreign signing Jerry Palacios.
That being said, the Seladangs were in imperious form from the get go, pressuring the ATM defence consistently. And their early efforts certainly paid dividends as Marco Tulio opened the scoring on the 12th minute mark.
Minutes later, their new signing Chad Souza showcased terrific predatory instincts to make it 2-0 for the home side, before Marco Tulio fired his second goal of the night, to put Perak 3-0 up on the 31st minute.
The ATM players were visibly shocked on the pitch, though they did manage to reduce the deficit just before the break, with Jerry Palacios scoring from the spot to make it 3-1.
After the break, ATM were far more diligent in their approach, which ultimately led to their second goal. Jerry Palacios, once again, dispatched a spot kick effectively, to make it 3-2 on the night.
But ATM were then reduced to 10 men with Azreen Zulkafali getting himself sent off. Predictably, Perak upped their tempo on the game, which led to their fourth goal of the night, courtesy of substitute Namkung Woong.
Despite ATM’s best efforts to foster a comeback, Perak held on to ultimately secured a morale-boosting victory on the night.
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