Pahang skipper Matthew Davies claims that his side are more than happy to have acquired one point from their opening Malaysia Super League fixture against Perak last night.
Pahang managed to break the deadlock within 15 minutes into the second half, with Syamim Yahya firing home from inside the box to silence a strong 19,000 crowd in Ipoh. Unfortunately, the home side clawed back and found an equaliser via Thiago Aquino Junior.
“We were quite satisfied in terms of our performance. It’s not easy to play in Ipoh in front of a full house,” Davies told FourthOfficial.com “They also recruited really well during the off-season and they have a strong side.
Perak came into the match as heavy favourites, having brought in the likes of Nazrin Nawi, Shahrom Kalam, Zaquan Adha and even Hafiz Kamal during the off-season. But with Karl Heinz-Weigang naming a rather conservative starting eleven, the match tempo became predictably cagey in the first 45 minutes.
The second half was arguably much better, though Pahang were forced to weather a major storm in the last 20 minutes, as the Perak players – buoyed by a boisterous crowd – began piling on the pressure. Davies and his comrades though, were undoubtedly up to the task.
“Our team handled the pressure well and I think we will only get better, especially when you consider that we played with only two foreign players last night,” he added.
The East Coast giants will next host a youthful T-Team side at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan next week.
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