Johor Darul Ta’azim maintained a 100% record in the group stages of the AFC Cup when they defeated I-League side 3-0 Bengaluru FC at the Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru tonight.
The Southern Tigers head coach Mario Gomez placed his trust in all of his local players as he left four of his foreign players out of the squad to rest them for the Superbest Power FA Cup final this weekend against PKNS at the Shah Alam Stadium. The Blues boss Ashley Westwood chose to select all four of his foreigners despite already qualifying for the next round.
The visitors kicked off the game brightly when Irish midfielder Michael Collins stole the ball off skipper of the night Amri Yahyah and curled an effort just wide on the 5th minute.
The next thirty minutes saw Bengaluru FC dominating most parts of the half as the reigning AFC Cup champions were unable to stop them from producing dangerous attacks.
Former Sarawak defender Junior Eldstål came close to breaking the deadlock for the home side but his looped attempt came off the post and Rino Anto before Amrinder Singh got a hold of it. The home crowd seemed restless as they were the second best team so far.
The second half kicked off and the home side picked up where they left off towards the end of the first half — in an attacking position. Safee Sali saw his effort bounced off the crossbar before Udanta Singh’s shot at the end of the field just sailed above the goalpost.
The tempo slowed down for twenty minutes after a few substitutions were made.
Safiq Rahim, who came on for Amri Yahyah, instantly made an impact when his shot deflected off John Johnson and ended up past Amrinder Singh in the back of the net. The national team leader could have doubled his side’s lead after S. Chanturu played him through but Amrinder Singh stepped up this time to save the ex-Selangor man’s effort.
On the 78th minute, Safee Sali beat the offside trap and struck the ball low past the Indian goalkeeper to make it 2-0 to the Southern Tigers. The ex-Malaysian national team striker was involved yet again as he won his team a penalty in the dying stages of the game. Former Kelantan legend Shakir Saari stepped up and scored the final goal of the game.
The referee blew the final whistle to indicate six wins from six games in the AFC Cup for The Southern Tigers. They will face Philippines’ Kaya FC in the next round of the AFC Cup.
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