Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Male: Umair Mohamed scored the only goal midway through the second half as the Maldivian champions New Radiant SC edged out Hong Kong’s Sunray Cave JC Sun Hei 1-0 in the AFC Cup on Tuesday.
New Radiant were on top for the majority of the contest at the National Stadium and hit the crossbar early in the first half through Ashfaq Ali, but struggled to find the finishing touch.
But after Ali had failed to convert numerous further chances, the lively striker expertly set-up Mohamed to net the decisive goal in the 67th minute to deny Hong Kong Senior Shield winners Sun Hei and help New Radiant join Myanmar’s Yangon United - who beat Indonesia’s Persibo 3-0 last week - at the top of Group F.
“Of course we made some little mistakes, but we deserve the win. It’s fantastic that we started with a win and this will boost our motivation,” said coach Velizar Popov after New Radiant made their return to the AFC Cup for the first time since 2008.
“We created so many chances, five open chances in the first half and three more in the second half.
“Maybe sometimes we may lose in the future, but we will always play to win.”
With Popov conceding Sun Hei were favourites for the Group F opener due to the higher quality of the Hong Kong domestic set-up, the home side created the first real threat on goal after 11 minutes as a last-ditch block on the edge of the six-yard area from Sun Hei’s Pak Wing Chak denied Umair Mohamed.
And the home side were unlucky not to take the lead again five minutes later as Ali charged into a penalty area and crashed a rising angled strike into the crossbar with Sun Hei goalkeeper Zhang Chunhui beaten.
Ali then flashed an effort across the face of the Sun Hei goal as New Radiant continued to enjoy the better of the chances in the first half before the striker drew a comfortable save from Zhang from a promising set-piece three minutes later.
And Ali was again involved four minutes before the break as the striker played in Fasir Ali following a quick break forward from the home side only for Yeung Chi Lun to come to the rescue with a crucial block for Sun Hei.
Ali continued to pose a threat for New Radiant at the start of the second half as the striker again darted into the Sun Hei area before firing another shot across the face of goal just three minutes after half-time.
New Radiant goalkeeper Imran Mohamed was finally called into action just after the hour mark, although the custodian comfortably gathered Leung Tsz Chun’s skidding low strike from the edge of the area.
Ali then wasted another chance for the home side, but just minutes later the New Radiant striker’s slide-rule pass split two Sun Hei defenders to play in Umair Mohamed for the on-rushing midfielder to produce a cool finish high into the net to finally open the scoring with 23 minutes remaining.
And with Sun Hei struggling to find a response, New Radiant’s Ahmed Thariq wasted a chance to seal the win with five minutes remaining as the substitute fired straight into the grateful arms of Sun Hei goalkeeper Zhang.
“This was the first game in the AFC Cup for some of the players and we have not been able to perform as we should,” said Sun Hei coach Chiu Chung Man.
“It is always tough to play away especially in hot weather and that has affected the team’s performance. We are also not at our strongest because some players could not travel due to injury.
“We could have drawn the game if we had avoided making one or two mistakes that led to us conceding a goal.”