Sabah U-19 fall to Cougars

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah suffered a 2-4 defeat at the hands of SSMP-AMD Cougars Under-16 in the Youth Cup Group A tie in Gambang, Pahang yesterday.

The state under-19 squad were forced to play the entire second half with a man down after defender Gerald Gadit was given his marching order just before the half-time break.

Sabah trailed 0-1 in the first half with Lokman Hakim Shamsudin netting in the 15th minute and the half turned for the worse when Gerald was red carded.

However, Sabah returned with a spirited display in the second half and forced the Cougars to dig deep into their reserves before they were in the scoresheet again.

Haridz Haikal Adam Afkal made it 2-0 in the 58th minute before Lokman netted his second and the Cougars’ third just four minutes later.

Sabah remained unperturbed as Mohd Shahrizan Saidin pulled a goal back in the 66th minute, though Lokman restored the Cougars’ three-goal lead with his hattrick in the 72nd minute.

To Sabah’s credit, they fought on until the end with Mohd Hizaz Lokman scoring Sabah’s second goal in the 80th minute.

It was as good as they could get as Cougars held firm to protect their lead to claim all three points.

Sabah remained at sixth in the 11-team Group A standing with 19 points from five wins, four draws and four losses while the Cougars moved to second on 22 points, four points behind leaders Terengganu FC IV.

The state juniors under head coach Mohd Aiyyman Shah Johny Abdullah were now two points adrift of fourth place PKNP FC with seven league games remaining.

For the record, the top four teams will advance into the quarterfinals.

Sabah will face Selangor next at the Penampang Stadium on May 13 before the league takes a one-month break.