What a game!
Almost 60 000 fans cheered as both of the teams qualified for the MMU's 2009/2010 Champions League Quarter-Final next month!
A rough game and referee's questionable decisions cannot stopped The Young Cowboys to reach their first ever quarter final in their first appearance in MMU's football.
Before the game started, pressure was everywhere for the visitors. A defeat, even a 1-0 defeat will knock out them from the tournament and allowed Genki Noob to progress to the quarter-final.
A new formation, 4-5-1 introduced where Nisham as the goalkeeper, Meegan as the right back, while Shauqie partnered with Faris as the centre back and Amir filled the left back slot. In midfield line, Kenneth acted as the defensive, skipper Luqman in his favourite position as the centre midfielder alongside Amar, Shahrom and Kamarul played as the right and left winger. Chap, as usual, played as the lone striker. Aziwan, Zumi, Raja and Anip were the only SRM's substitutions.
After some short briefing from the skipper Luqman and a 'doa' from all the players, the referee blew the kick off's whistle. A confidence performance in the opening stages from SRM, managed to keep their feet on the ball all the time. The SRM were the more ambitious side on attack, with Chap looking for the killer through ball from Luqman, but hosts held him firm neatly.
After 10 minutes , a miss kick's blunder from F&F's centre back almost give SRM the lead when Amar strikes a short range shot but the keeper managed to stop it. And what a world class save it was. The F&F's keeper, Adli flew his body and made an one-hand save to deny Amar's strike beautifully.
F&F side were aggressive in their play and never allowed SRM to get forward to their penalty box. Shahrom, the main threat, cannot do anything to get past two F&F's players that were assigned to close him down. SRM's attacking were 95% concentrated through the middle while the F&F defended very well. SRM's goalie, Nisham made two high profile mistakes that nearly costed his team but luckily the score sheet still 0-0 until the break.
Second half started with a fierce attacking style from the F&F. Shauqie and Faris had a lot of things to break the F&F's attacking. A lot of fouls committed by F&F but some of them were denied by the referee. A small uproar happened between the F&F's captain and the referee because a wrong decision when the referee awarded a throw in for SRM while the linesman flagged for the F&F's side.
Then, tiredness struck the SRM's side. Most of them were clearly out of stamina. F&F saw this as an opportunity and launched an all-out attacks. But, here the hero comes. Kenneth, the unsung hero, break most of their attack with fine header and tiredless performance, closing down the opponent's forward. But, at the final 20 minutes, once again, a controversy decision made by the referee when he awarded F&F a penalty that he claimed caused by Meegan who blocked the F&F's player.
Nadeem, assigned to take the penalty for F&F. He calmly, put the ball to the ground and ready for the whistle. Referee blew his whistle and Nadeem kicked the ball straight to Nisham and with his long leg, Nisham cleared the ball away but Zul managed to get the ball and launched a slow shot and once again, Nisham dive to get the ball. All the SRM's player shouted happily and the atmosphere changed. The SRM looked impressive again and keep the possession back. But, it was just for a while.
For the last 10 minutes before the final whistle, SRM allowed F&F to attack from all sides. A header from a decent cross from the F&F almost gave them a goal but goalie managed to clear the ball for a corner.
Finally, referee blew his whistle to end the game!
SRM qualified to the quarter-final next month!The most happiest person was the boss, Wan Nasrul Ferguson. He jumped happily and bought the team a few bottles of 100+.
Nice one guys!
Good job!
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