[MSL] Sarawak 3-0 Sime Darby : SDFC leave Stadium Negeri empty again

Sime Darby FC left Stadium Negeri empty handed yet again as they fell hard to the Crocs by 3 goals in a game dominated by Sarawak FA.

The under pressure Crocs showed immediate urgency at the start of the game with Joseph Kalang and Ashri Chuchu orchestrating deadly attacks for the home side.

Within minutes of the game, Ronny Harun blasted a screamer shot from outside the box, but goakeeper Kamarul Effadi managed to tip it off for two fruitless corners for the Crocs.

Soon after, Joseph came knocking at the goal, but his shot towards goal sailed pass the defenders, and missed Milorad’s head.

Sime Darby replied Sarawak’s massive attacking flair with quick counter attacks, but Gabor Gyepes and his men were not to be defeated tonight.

Sarawak regained possession, and Zamri Morshidi found himself eager to dribble the ball into the box only to be see the ball hitting a Simde Darby defender’s hand in the box for the referee to point to the spot.

Fan favourite Joseph stepped up to take the spot kick, and buried it with a fantastic strike which defeated Kamarul to put Sarawak one goal up.

The plantation giants tried to level the score but found themselves having difficulty negotiating the likes of Ramesh Lai and Hairol Mokhtar whom were definitely on-form for the night.

Nonetheless, Sarawak received a major blow of the night when captain Joseph was stretched out and replaced by Akmal Rizal.

The entry of Akmal spiced up Sarawak’s movement as they started engineering more dangerous moves to the dismay of the visiting team.

Milorad Janjus almost doubled the score for the Crocs soon after, but the shot he made towards goal was weak and easy for Kamarul.

This was followed by a free header by Gabor which was high and wide, and another screamer shot by Gabor which was tipped out by Kamarul.

Just as everyone thought the score would remain 1-0 for Sarawak at half time, Milorad pushed a beautiful long pass to unmarked Zamri Morshidi. Zamri dribbled it into the box, and was brought down for the Crocs to earn their second penalty of the night, which Gabor neatly tucked away by pushing it to the left of the goal post.

After the breather, Sime Darby desperately tried to break Sarawak’s solid defenses, but their quality passing, and control of possession, failed to translate into a goal.

Instead, Sarawak regained their composure and started to arrange more attacks which kept Sime Darby’s back line busy.

Gabor moved forward to help the attack but his powerful shots on goal, missed the target by a whisker, twice.

A one-two exchange between Ramesh Lai and Ashri also almost resulted in a goal, but Ramesh’s shot on goal was tipped out by Kamarul for a fruitless corner.

In the 63rd minute, Sarawak was awarded a free kick when Rashid Aya was fouled.  Milorad took the kick, and swayed in a beautiful strike to leave Kamarul helpless, and putting Sarawak three goals up.

The now demoralized Sime Darby players tried to salvage the game, but Sarawak proved to be way too strong for them.

In the 82nd minute, Sime Darby had to play with nine men after two of their players were sent off for arguing with the referee and making consistent fouls.

Sarawak however failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage, and looked comfortable to defend their lead until the referee blew the end of the full 90 minutes of the game with the Crocs scoring their first three points of the season.

FULL SCORE: SARAWAK FA 3-0 SIME DARBY FC
OUR MoM: Gabor Gyepes