Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Noumea: Malaysia received a much needed boost on Wednesday when they claimed a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over New Caledonia.
The Pacific nation took the lead through Jean-Philippe Saiko in the 20th minute, before a 48th minute Amirul Hadi Zainal strike and a free-kick six mnutes later by Baddrol Bakhtiar (pictured) clinched the win.
The victory, which saw Malaysia's Azrif Nasrulhaq and New Caledonia's Georges Bearune both dismissed as well as Zaquan Adha suffer a broken wrist, will come as a relief for a Malaysian side which suffered a surprise 2-0 loss to the lower ranked Papua New Guinea last week.
"I told the players at the break that we needed to be more aggressive going forward, and they responded positively with both the goals," said Malaysia coach Ong Kim Swee.
"Our determination in the second half made the difference," he added.
Malaysia - who recently made it through to the third round of qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup thanks to a 6-0 aggregate defeat of Timor-Leste - will bring the curtain down on their Oceania tour when they play Fiji on June 26.
Photo: AFP