KOTA KINABALU: The State Under-21 squad’s 2019 season started on the wrong foot after they were beaten 1-0 by Pahang in their President Cup opening tie at UMS Stadium, Monday afternoon. Their impressive unbeaten pre-season friendly form was sadly absent as they struggled throughout the match.
They hardly threatened the visitors’ goal in the opening half and they also had goalkeeper Joslan Aping to thank for as he had made two point-blank saves to keep the score goalless at the break. Justin Ganai’s boys played better at the restart but again their final third was poor and their two best chances fell for skipper Aidil Safee but he was unable to find the target. In the 64th minute, as Sabah were trying hard to unlock the Pahang defence, defender Kelvin Pengiran made an uncharacteristic error when he lost the ball outside the box.
The ball was then played back into the box resulting in a goal mouth melee that finally fell to Muhd Shah Farkhan Mohd Roop who made no mistake by just tapping in for the opener. Pahang also had several chances to extend their lead later on but were either thwarted by Joslan or they were off target and the score remained 1-0 to Pahang at the final whistle. The team will next play against UiTM away on Thursday (February 28). – GL Oh
