Written by Shawn Lim

Despite starting the Causeway derby brightly and playing well in the first half, Courts Young Lions faded off in the second half, with crosses and passes going astray.

One of those misplaced passes resulted in Shahrul Igwan scoring for Harimau Muda in injury time and it prompted Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar to urge his charges to learn from this mistake.

“I think at the end of the day, the result was fair. Credits to Harimau Muda, they looked hungry and fresh. Our lapse of concentration punished us and we deserved to lose,” Aide said.

“We were trying to get a goal throughout the game. Shameer had a good chance, but the goalkeeper saved it. At the end of the day, if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games. That is something we have to learn. I hope the boys take this [defeat] seriously and improve in the future.”

With most of his charges recently returning from Asian Games duties, they were understandably tired as the match wore on. However, Aide refused to use the Asian Games as an excuse for the loss.

“To be fair, the players were feeling the effects of fatigue coming back from the Asian Games, that’s why the Harimau Muda team looked fresher.

“But I think that’s not an excuse. You are going to play games week in and week out even after coming back from tournaments. You have to continue, you have to refocus,” he explained.

An overjoyed Harimau Muda coach Razip Ismail could not contain his happiness at leaving Jalan Besar Stadium with three points, as he praised his players for not giving up in their search for a goal.

“Tonight we are very lucky because we scored very late in the game. Throughout the game, my players fought very hard. They played better in the second half than in the first,” Razip added.

“I thought it was going to be a draw. One point is okay to me. The most important thing for me was that my players never stopped creating chances.”