Written by: Khalis Rifhan

Minutes after savouring their first win in the 2014 Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League, Courts Young Lions coach Aide Iskandar expressed concerns as their 3-2 victory was marred by red cards for two of his players.

Sheikh Abdul Hadi and Ammirul Emran were sent off in the match after picking up two yellow cards and will miss their next match against Warriors Football Club on 24 April at Jalan Besar Stadium.

“That is the negative part (red cards) about the win,” said Aide after the match.

“There is something which we can’t avoid and hopefully other players can come in and fill in their shoes and perform up to expectations.

“It will be hard for us against Warriors as they are currently on fine form. But you never say never in football and I have always emphasised on teamwork and they will give everything against Warriors,” stressed the former national skipper.

Turning back to his players’ performance against the Malaysian developmental side, Aide said; “I am happy with the points. Not one of the best performance because we were playing with one men less and then two men less in the last ten minutes.”

“For me, the most important thing is that the boys really wanted the win.

“They worked hard and it was not easy. Harimau were piling the pressure in the last 10 to 15 minutes and I am happy the players were able to cope,” added Aide.

It was quite a sombre mood when Harimau’s coach Razip Ismail stepped into the room for the post-match interview.

“I am quite disappointed with the result. Even though we improved in the second half, but still, we let the opponents to score the goal even though they played with less men,” bemoaned Razip.

“We should have done better in the second half. Overall we did not have a good game from the beginning.”

While Aide had said Harimau played better than Young Lions, Razip added: “End of the day, we want results and in our situation we want the points badly.”

“Today, we let ourselves down.”