Sarawak (1)
Joel Eppale 22'
vs
Sabah (0)
 |
| Sarawak fans watching the match on a big screen. |
The Borneo Derby of the Malaysia Super League ended with the Crocs
winning 1-0 in front of an empty Sarawak State Stadium due to the ban
imposed by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
Visiting Sabah adapted faster to the wet pitch as they mounted
several attacks on the Sarawak goal. Their efforts however were
easily thwarted by the Sarawak defence lead by goalkeeper Saiful Amar
Sudar.
As the game progressed, Sarawak regrouped and started launching
attacks through influential midfielder Guy Bwele. This caused the
Sabahans to defend as Sarawak made sure every room available in the
Sabahan side was manipulated with dangerous passes.
Ashri Chuchu and Rashid Aya ensured the flanks were alive as they
tried to penetrate the concrete like Sabah defence. The pressure
exerted by the Sarawakian side caused the Sabahans to create
numerous fouls, resulting in several free kicks and corners.
In the 17th minute, Guy came close to putting the Crocs a goal ahead,
but his free kick only managed to hit the side of the net. This was
followed by several corners, but the one in the 22nd minute by Ashri
gave the crowd outside the stadium a huge reason to cheer.
A wonderful in-swinger corner by Ashri was neatly headed in by Joel
Epalle, hence putting the Crocs a goal in front. Sarawak pushed harder
for another goal, but the Sabah stood firm.
 |
| Ronny on action |
In the 41st minute, Brenden Gan almost equalized for Sabah, but
he ballooned a one on one situation, ensuring Sarawak the lead at half
time.
The restart of the game saw Sarawak trying to increase their goal
tally. However, Justin Ganai’s men disturbed Sarawak’s momentum with
hard tackles on several key players of the home team resulting in Robert
Alberts removing Joel and Zamri whom were contatnt victims of such
incidents.
Sabah started to move forward as they implemented wide passes to
Brendan Gan and Zainizam Marjan, but each effort they had was easily
foiled by Saiful and his four defenders whom were on top form.
The visiting team continued to push for the equalizer and came close
to doing so through a header by Ronnie Harrun which sailed over the bar.
Another effort by the visiting team also failed to hit the back of the
net when a corner kick was cleared right before it could be kicked in
by one awaiting Sabahan striker.
Sabah pressed harder to find the equalizer, but soon found out that
there was little they could do to prevent Sarawak from grabbing the full
3 points.
News source:
sarawakbloggers.net
Photo source:
Dunia Sukan Online | twitter cyrildason
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