Sabah U-19 beat Pahang 1-0
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Under-19 squad defeated Pahang 1-0 to conclude the Youth Cup Group B first round fixtures on a high at the UIA Stadium in Kuantan yesterday.
The victory, which was the squad’s first back-to-back win of the campaign, was achieved in some style too.
After a scoreless first half and with the teams failing to find the back of the net for much of the second half, the match suddenly burst into life towards the end.
In the 85th minute, Pahang were awarded a penalty kick, but Sabah goalkeeper Mohd Azlizan Mohd Azlan turned hero with a confident save.
It proved to be crucial for Sabah as just three minutes later they scored through midfielder Johan Mansor to claim all three points.
Head coach Billyton Vun Kit Ming said, it was a deserved win for the team, whom he said executed well what was taught on the training pitch.
“The impact from the (training) drill, which focused more on speed endurance... meaning transition from defence to attack was a success. In fact, the winning goal was from a counter attack and we can see what we are doing in training has a positive impact in the actual game,” he said after the match.
With the victory, Sabah Under-19 have collected nine points from their 10 first round matches, for which they registered three wins and seven losses.
However, while Sabah still find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the table, the victory could well be a motivation to do even better in the second round.
Sabah will open the second round fixtures against Perak at the Penampang Stadium on May 1.