[M’sia Cup] Perak 2-0 Sarawak: Crocs dry run in Ipoh continue

Sarawak had only themselves to blame after they were beaten 2-0 by Perak in Satdium Ipoh last night.

The game saw Robert Alberts changing the positioning of his players with Ronny Harun pushed to play in the midfield, with Dzulazlan Ibrahim and Mazwandi Zakeria chosen to cove the left and right of the defense.

A drab first half however saw neither teams able to break the deadlock with Perak having better shots on goal if compared to the visiting side who seemed uninterested to finish off their chances, despite the fact that S. Chanturu kept his pace in terrorizing the Perak defences.

The score however changed in the 44th minute when Perak finally gave their fans a massive cheer when a brilliant move started by Nasir, ended with Nasir calmly slotting in a grounder which saw Sani Anuar left helpless as he watched the ball go in.

Sarawak started to show better game play in the second half, but a poor offside trap by Hairol Mokhtar and Gabor Gyepes punished the Crocs dearly as Perak scored their second goal of the game in the 49th minute.

The move which saw the ball crosses right to Marco Tulio, was finished off with a deadly touch by Abdulafees Abdulsalam for Perak to have a better numerical advantage over the Crocs.

Perak came close to tripling their lead minutes later but a Perak goal was ruled for offside by the men in black.

As if awaken from their slumber, Sarawak took the game to the Perak halve and started pounding their arsenal against the Perak goal with Robert making tactical changes to his side, by putting in Mohd Lot for Dzulazlan.

Rashid Aya came close to giving his side one goal in the game, but he lost the ball in the box to a Perak defender, while Chanturu blasted his turning kick high and wide over the post.

In the 65th minute Sarawak obtained a corners, but the powerful volley made by Ryan Griffith from outside the box was saved by Perak’s heroic goalkeeper.

Perak came so close to nail the Crocs coffin in the 74th minute, but Marco failed to round up Sani Anuar to keep the score still the same.

With ten minutes left on the clock, the Perak custodian saved his team yet again when he pushed out a powerful drive from Lot for numerous fruitless corners to the Crocs.

Sarawak pushed harder for goals, but even with Perak including their President Cup players in the team, none of Sarawak’s chances were converted.

In the dying minutes Junior Eldstal’s powerful shot in the penalty box was yet again saved by the goalkeeper, with the Crocs ending the game still defeated at Stadium Ipoh since 2004.

FINAL SCORE: Perak 2-0 Sarawak
Photo credit to UltraCrocs