Sabah women footballers unlucky to lose on penalties

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah lost 2-1 to Melaka in the semifinal of the 31st Tun Sharifah Rodziah Cup Women’s Football tournament in Cyberjaya, Selangor, yesterday.

The match held at the Multi Media University football field was determined by penalties after both sides drew 2-2 in regulation time.

Sabah head coach David Aiyyman Abdullah said the team gave strong challenges to the opponent but were unlucky not to find the winner.

“We did our best to try and win the match and played quite well actually. But we were unlucky in front of goal and a few defensive errors proved costly.

“We tried to find the winner in extra time but the match went into penalties and luck was not on our side,” he said.

Melaka led 1-0 at the break before Sabah stemmed the tide in the 53rd minute through Usliza Usman. But Melaka responded to regain the lead in the 75th minute before Sabah levelled again 10 minutes later.

Sabah, who are represented by only 17 players will see action in the third place play-off against Selangor at the UiTM field at