Pahang came with confidence they would secure an easy win over Sarawak to enable them to challenge JDT and Selangor for the Super League title, but they were left frustrated after the home side fought hard and held the Tok Gajah’s to a 1-1 draw at Stadium Negeri.
Zainal Abidin put his best man for the game with Matias Conti and R.Gopinathan causing a lot of trouble for the home side.
The visitors earned a free kick and a corner in the early minutes of the game, with Sarawak still finding themselves adjusting to the game.
A few attempts on goal started to emerge from the home side as the game progressed, but most of their efforts were useless with poor shooting and passing very much evident. Pahang was ever happy to dictate play as they kept ball possession.
Unfortunately for Pahang though, Gopinathan whom is known for his fluid runs was well marked by Dzulazlan Ibrahim who kept winning the ball off the Pahang winger with superb ball winning tackles.
But the creative midfield of Pahang wasn’t to be contained as long balls were fed to tall Matias Conti whom blasted wide a few clear cut chances, with one almost rolling in the goal if it was not for Fadzley Rahim’s quick reaction to save the day.
In the 33rd minute, Matias silenced Stadium Negeri with a powerful tap as tucked in a rebound courtesy of a powerful 30-yard Gopinathan shot which Fadzley failed to catch neatly.
Pahang nearly doubled their lead moments later but Hairol Mokhtar stole the ball of Gopinathan in the penalty box and cleared the ball out of danger.
As the breather came close, Sarawak increased their attacking momentum but good goalkeeping ensured a powerful shot by Ashri Chuchu resulted in a fruitless corner.
After the breather, the mood in Stadium Negeri erupted with joy as Joseph Kalang floored a weak pass by Ashri to put the Crocs back level in the game.
The goal pumped adrenaline into the Crocs as they started to arrange more attacking efforts to lead the game.
Sarawak came close to taking the lead when a one tow by Muamer Salibasic and Ryan Griffith saw Ryan fall in the box, but the referee decided that Ryan dived and yellow carded him for a free kick to Pahang.
The referee from then on started making dubious decisions including ignoring an incident which saw Joseph somewhat punched in the face at the center of the pitch, and awarding corner kicks and throw-ins to Pahang.
Despite the dubious decisions which left many of the Sarawakian players furious, the Crocs pushed on with their attacking flair and almost scored one when Rashid Aya found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The referee however called off the attack by ruling Rashid was offside.
With the clock fast ticking, Akmal Rizal was brought in to spice up Sarawak’s attacking.
The Kedah born striker almost got the ‘super-sub’ tag within minutes he was introduced, but his shot from inside the Pahang penalty box was wide.
In the dying minutes, Joseph had the best opportunity to steal the win for Sarawak when he found himself beating the offside trap, and being one on one with the Pahang goalkeeper. Despite that, Joseph slipped, and the referee of the night called it a day by blowing the final whistle.
FINAL SCORE: Sarawak 1-1 Pahang
Our MoM: Dzulazlan Ibrahim
Photo by Naiemah Ema
