Rhinos cruise to easy 4-1 win
Published on: Saturday, March 07, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Rhinos notched an easy 4-1 thumping win against KL SPA Putrajaya in their Malaysia Premier League encounter here at Stadium Likas on Friday night.After suffering their first defeat of the season last week at the hands of PDRM, Sabah were determined to put that defeat behind them by displaying superb teamwork football thanks to an inspiring performance by skipper, El Hadji Diouf who was involved in all four of Sabah's goals.Both sides started the match in high spirits, exchanging fast paced passes around the field and fair amount of shot on goals.
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Sabah received a major blow early in the match when defender Abdoulaye Faye left the field with a suspected hamstring injury and was replaced by Izuan Salahuddin.The home side almost broke the deadlock in the 14th minute when SPA's goalkeeper, Mahathir Mohammad fumbled a cross only for Azzizan Nordin to blast the rebound sky high.Their determination paid off in the 29th minute when Diouf skipped past a few defenders down the right hand side before crossing in for Zuraindey Jumai to head home in off the crossbar.SPA's players protested with the officials after denying that the ball had crossed the line but referee, Azman Jamaluddin stood by his decision, 1-0 to Sabah.
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The Rhinos doubled their lead two minutes later with a sublime teamwork play, once again Diouf getting involved down the right as he flicked a pass through to substitute, Izuan whose cross was finished into the bottom corner with a half volley by Leopold Otong.Just before half time, the home side almost tripled their lead when a through ball from midfield squeezed to winger Izuan who shot just wide of the post.
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After hitting the post early on, Rhinos' big striker, Eamon Zayed finally opened his 2015 account by heading in Diouf's perfectly weighted long ball past SPA's keeper in the 48th minute.Another Diouf assist led to Sabah's fourth when the skipper dummied his way through SPA's defenders down the left flank this time to cross in for Izuan to score in the 64th minute.SPA managed to score a consolation two minutes later when Raja Md Hafillah scored a free kick from 35 metres out past the stretching arms of goalkeeper, Fazli Paat.SPA had the ball in the net in the 78th minute after a free kick struck the crossbar and the rebound was smashed into the net only to be disallowed after one of their players was offside.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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