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| Sime Darby captain Es Lizuan Zahid Amir |
SIME Darby captain Es Lizuan Zahid Amir was named the Man of the Match in Saturday's FA Cup final but the centre-back could not hold back his tears following his team's 1-0 defeat to Kelantan in Bukit Jalil.
"It is an honour to be named the Man of the Match but if given a chance, I would want to trade this award with the title. We gave our 100 per cent but luck was not on our side," said Es Lizuan at the National Stadium.
"We had nothing to lose going into the final as Kelantan were the overwhelming favourites but we played with a game plan that troubled our opponents.
"Kelantan were frustrated as they could not get an early goal. We, however, could have scored on one or two occasions but we did not have the luck."
Es Lizuan, along with Mohd Fairuz Abdul Aziz, Mohd Arif Ismail and Mohd Shazlan Alias, formed a formidable Sime Darby back-line which defended well against a star-studded Kelantan attack led by Lebanese striker Muhamad Ghaddar and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.
Kelantan, however, won the match when they were awarded a controversial penalty by referee Suhaizi Shukri, who pointed to the spot after Obinna Nwaneri was brought down in the 58th minute. Ghaddar made no mistakes for the winning goal.
Sime Darby were furious as they felt Nwaneri fell too easily from an aerial challenge by their player.
"It could have gone either way but the referee decided on awarding them a penalty. Yes, we were disappointed but we couldn't do anything about it.
"I must thank the Sime Darby management for supporting us throughout this tournament. We need to regroup and focus on our remaining Premier League matches," Es Lizuan added.
Sime Darby, who are third in the league, are hoping to make the promotion play-off by doing well in their remaining six matches.
By Ajitpal Singh, NST
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