New Sabah Times
By UMESH RAJAN
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah juniors were given a lesson on football by Kedah when the former recorded a crushing 4-0 win during their Youth Cup tie at Penampang Stadium, near here on Wednesday.
Last year’s semi-finalists only collected one point from two matches in Group B before the start of yesterday’s match against Sabah yet they were on fire when the kick-off whistle blew.
The visitors were awarded a penalty kick as early as the 4th minute after a Sabah defender handled the ball in the area which was successfully converted by Muhd Syabani Mohd Saberi.
Kedah then doubled their lead through Afif Awwadi Ahmad Tajuddin after Sabah goalkeeper, Fahmi Ikhwan Muhd Azli’s poor clearance went directly onto his foot for an easy finish in the 17th minute.
Great passing and dribbling skills punished a lacklustre Sabah defence when Syabani netted the visitor’s third four minutes later with an effortless finish for his second goal of the match.
Muhd Hazim Ramli added the fourth for Kedah barely two minutes into the second half, slicing through Sabah’s defence with ease before slotting past Fahmi to end any hopes of a comeback.
The defeat gave Sabah their biggest home defeat since February last year when they lost to SSMP AMD Cougars U-16 with the same scoreline.
The Tambadau juniors will resume their Youth Cup campaign this Sunday (March 3) when they visit AMD Under-16 at Padang Utama AMD, Gambang in Pahang.
