Agu Casmir celebrates after scoring his second, and the LionsXII’s 5th goal of the night. (Photo by Shirley Hamra/FAS. Used with permission.)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 — The Singapore LionsXII beat visiting PKNS 5-0 to make up for the 0-1 loss to the same team away last weekend in the Malaysian Super League (MSL).
The win maintained the LionsXII’s five-point lead at the top of the table although second-placed Kelantan have played three fewer games.
Agu Casmir registered his first goal for the LionsXII since the start of their MSL campaign and he ended the night with two to his name.
Shaiful Esah also stood out, with his left foot deliveries leading to three of the five goals.
Just over 7,100 fans watched the LionsXII go 3-0 up within 26 minutes. Safuwan Baharudin opened the scoring with a simple tap in from Shaiful Esah’s free kick on 17 minutes.
Shaiful then scored himself just two minutes later. A Ahmad Azlan hand ball gave the LionsXII another free kick and Shaiful hit one past everyone, including a stranded Remezy Che Ros.
In the 26th minute, it became 3-0 from another set piece. Shahdan Sulaiman’s corner found an unmarked Sevki Sha’Ban who got his first goal of the season with an unmarked header.
The second half yielded two more goals, both scored by Agu.
Eight minutes into the second half, a Shahdan Sulaiman cross found an unmarked Agu in the penalty box and the striker made no mistake from point blank range.
Three minutes before time, Shaiful Esah swung a free kick in which Safuwan headed goalwards. Remezy Che Ros got his hand to it but the ball flew up nicely for Agu to just head it in to complete the rout.
A visibly disappointed PKNS head coach Haji Abdul Rahman said: “It’s two totally different games. When we played at home, we were more enthusiastic and we wanted to go for the win. At that time LionsXII were tired and over confident but we were willing to go all the way. We lacked experience and this is the first time we are playing on an artificial turf.”
LionsXII head coach V. Sundramoorthy said: “Basically I never expected to win by five goals, but that’s football. Sometimes the unexpected happens and this team hasn’t lost away, so we had to break their duck. I think the boys were magnificent today, and the performance is a five-star performance. It’s the best game of the season.”
Final Score
LionsXII 5 Selangor PKNS 0
Scorers
LionsXII — Safuwan Baharudin (17′), Shaiful Esah (19′), Sevki Sha’ban (26′), Agu Casmir (53′, 87′)
LionsXII Starting Lineup
Hyrulnizam Juma’at (GK), Shaiful Esah, Isa Halim, Shahdan Sulaiman, Agu Casmir, Hariss Harun, Shahril Ishak (C), Irwan Shah (Taufiq Rahmat 79’), Sevki Sha’Ban (Firdaus Kasman 38’), Juma’at Jantan (Yasir Hanapi 84’).
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