Points shared

Apr 15, 2015 - 08:19:03 |
Moli in action against Ayeyawady in during the first leg in Male' (MS Photo: Ismail Affan)

Yangon, MYANMAR - Ayeyawady United extended their unbeaten run to four games with ten man in this year’s AFC Cup as they held out for a goalless draw with New Radiant SC.

The first half was quiet, both sides creating a couple of opportunities each but neither able to take advantage of them with Macedonian forward Riste Naumov the main target for a series of crosses and deep attacking throw-ins from hosts Ayeyawady.

The most effective of these came from New Radiant midfielder Viliam Macko, who proved himself a constant danger to the Myanmar side during the match.

On the half-hour, the Slovakian turned his man on the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful blast across a helpless Vanlal Hruai in the Ayeyawady goal only to see the ball clatter off the crossbar.

The second half offered little more action until the final 15 minutes of the game with the 66th minute dismissal of Ayeyawady’s Hein Thiha Zaw following two yellow cards giving New Radiant a numerical advantage.

On the 76th minute, Ahmed Abdulla approached the right hand corner of the box and whipped a short cross with pinpoint precision onto the head of Ashadh. Ashad produced a firm and clean header but Hruai pushed the ball wide of the near post.

“We came here with no chance of reaching the second round if we lose, we came to win but we did better than last time,” said New Radiant coach Hassan Hameed.

“The players did their job and we hope we can get more from them in the future.

“If we can take six points from our last two games then we can go forward into the next round.”

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footballmad on Apr 16
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This was certainly a better than expected result, notably good to see the defence not making silly mistakes, at least not as fatal errors as in the previous matches. Definite positives in the game: Villiam getting more involved and establishing a solid presence in the midfiled; some accurate long range passes turned into attacking moves; Adey's hardwork and playing; encouraging performance again by goalie, Akhmadev and crucially, the whole team's team stamina not fading away completely towards the last 15 minutes. Improvement needed in: accuracy of short passes; ability to change pace / step up the game at the right moment; marking when defending; resist the temptation to dgo diving in when the oppostition is counter-attacking; and finally as the previous games, quality of long range shots, apart from Villiam of course - the whole team needs to work hard in this area. Overall, NRSC has proved that it has the ability but the real challenge is in the 2 games left. Many have said this before, NRSC's next home game against Persib Bandung will be a home advantage ONLY IF the fans go and fill up every nook and cranny in the National Stadium on the 29th April on Wed. It may even be an idea, and if it is a real advantage for the players, for the club to request the last home match to be changed to the evening 9pm so that more fans can attend - just a thought. All the best in the next game and there's every chance of a BIG win if Sentey reaches his full fitness and all players remain upbeat following today's encouraging result.
Imma on Apr 18
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I wonder why all the matches are played at that time? Surely it will be more beneficial to all parties involved if more fans were allowed to attend the matches, with better atmosphere and ticket sales. I heard from an unconfirmed source that this is due to some AFC regulation, but as I said, it was from an unreliable source. Maybe someone can help me to shed some light on this. When Maldives was placed in West Asia in 2012, VB played all their AFC Cup matches at 2100 hours, but unfortunately almost all Maldivian football fans hated them so the matches were played in an empty stadium.
fan on Apr 16
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The word ‘Inadequate’ really sums up New Radiant’s preparation and cup promotional work. And like a vicious cycle it keeps on repeating every year. It is always being said ok next year. That next year it is going to be better than this. We are waiting for that next year.

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