JDT coach pleased with the positives after narrow loss to Kashima

PETALING JAYA: They may not have made their ideal start in the AFC Champions League but Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) head coach Benjamin Mora reckons that his men did well in their debut.

The Super League champions were on the wrong end of a 2-1 result against title holders Kashima Antlers in their Group E clash at the Kashima Soccer Stadium on Tuesday.

“We’re happy because we made our first appearance in the ACL group stage versus the champions who had played against the likes of Real Madrid and Chivas. We did very well,” said the Mexican.

“We knew it would be tough. We studied Kashima, maybe four or five games and we studied and studied and still, inside the pitch it was very hard because they play at another level.

“But we’re very happy to represent Malaysia in this competition and we go home happy.

“With the heat in the return tie, we maybe have opportuni- ties to improve a little bit in the things we didn’t do that well.”

The Southern Tigers rode out a difficult opening 15 minutes, where goalkeeper Farizal Marlias (pic) conceded a penalty only to save Serginho’s spotkick, and looked set to go into the half-time break level.

But Taiki Hirato’s goal gave the hosts the lead in the 43rd minute before Serginho made amends for his penalty miss with a top-class strike from long range in the 56th minute.

JDT’s Diogo Santo reduced the deficit with his close- range attempt in the 80th minute but it was not enough to spur a comeback for the visitors.

Mora is hoping Santo’s goal can give his players confidence as they continue their Champions League campaign against South Korean side Gyeongnam in their next match in Larkin on March 12.

“The goal means a lot. We accomplished the first task and that was to try to score.

“We tried everything to press and thankfully, we had a setpiece that we converted,” he added.