Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Male: A goal from forward Edison Fonseca and two late strikes from Riste Naumov helped Myanmar’s Ayeyawady United claim their first three points in Group H of the AFC Cup with an impressive 3-0 away win against New Radiant SC of the Maldives at the National Stadium in Male on Wednesday.
With group leaders Persib Bandung of Indonesia defeating Lao FC 1-0 in the group’s earlier game on Wednesday, both sides went into the match knowing a win would leave them clear in second place at the halfway point of the group stage and it was Ayeyawady who opened the scoring in the 35th minute through Fonseca’s close-range header.
Then after withstanding some second-half pressure, former Maziya Sports and Recreation Club forward Naumov, back in familiar territory, scored two late goals for the visitors to ensure they remained unbeaten in Group H with five points from three games.
“It’s not easy to win games at the National Stadium and we achieved that with very hard work from almost all the players,” said Ayeyawady’s Macedonian coach Marjan Sekulovski, whose side next host the Maldivians in four weeks’ time.
“With this win we are very close to the second round of the tournament.”
New Radiant started the stronger of the teams with captain Adey Ashadh seeing his powerful shot blocked by an Ayeyawady defender with eight minutes gone.
And after the visitors’ Fonseca was thwarted by good goalkeeping from Alisher Akhmedov it was he who put Ayeyawady in front 10 minutes before the interval with a header from just a few yards out.
The Maldivians came out in search of the equaliser and should have levelled midway through the second half but English forward Dave Moli missed the target after being played in by defender Mohamed Rasheed.
And the home side were made to pay for their miss in the dying minutes when Macedonian Naumov twice found the net, first with a shot from the edge of the six-yard box and then when the frontman rounded Akhmedov in stoppage time to secure a 3-0 victory.
“The performance of both teams was equal but we failed to take the home advantage and didn’t press during the match,” said New Radiant coach Amir Alagic.
“The team is very good but the fitness level is very low when we play matches like these.
“I will use the youngsters in the upcoming matches and we will still try to get good results. We don’t have anything to lose now.”