AKMAL RIZAL HOPES FOR '90 MAGICAL MINUTES' IN KEDAH FOR PANTHERS

GEORGE TOWN, June 29 (Bernama) -- Penang FC head coach Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli hopes for '90 magical minutes' at Darul Aman Stadium, Kedah next week to brighten the Panthers' chances of advancing to the FA Cup semi-finals this season.

Akmal Rizal is confident that his players can bounce back and perform better despite facing two consecutive defeats against Kedah Darul Aman (KDA) FC at home in the Super League last week and in the first quarter-final leg last night.

He said that the two consecutive defeats were not due to a jinx but to the failure to score goals despite playing well, and that mistake caused the final result to favour the Canaries

"Anyway, we still have 90 minutes. In football, anything can happen. Although we are trailing by one goal, we will come back with a plan to attack as much as possible, and at the same time, we must also defend because Kedah have quality in their attacking line.

"Our fight is not over yet, and we will strive to play our best in the final 90 minutes next Friday to get a chance to qualify for the semi-finals," he told the post-match press conference.

Akmal Rizal hopes that Brazilian import striker Rodrigo Dias, who has been plagued by injury problems, will fully recover in the coming days to return to the starting lineup for the second leg in Alor Setar.

Meanwhile, KDA FC head coach Nafuzi Zain described the positive result obtained in the match as a result of the high commitment shown by the players on the pitch.

However, he does not want them to be too comfortable with the one-goal advantage as he believes the Panthers will put up a strong fight as they are also on a mission to secure a ticket to the next round.

He also admitted to being slightly disappointed when the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review did not favour his team after the second goal by import player Ebenezer Assiufuah was disallowed for offside, but he accepted the referee's decision.

"A 1-0 result is positive because we did not lose, but 2-0 would have been more comfortable. We tried our best, but the referee's decision was correct, and in the end, VAR did not favour us.

"Anyway, we still have the second leg, so we cannot be too comfortable and confident. What is important in the second leg is that all players remain consistent and use the home advantage to play better and advance to the semi-finals," he said.

In last night's match, substitute player Mohamad Hasbullah Abu Bakar became the saviour after  scoring the only goal of the match in the 73rd minute when Penang FC goalkeeper Sikh Izhan failed to catch the ball cleanly from a shot by KDA FC captain Sony Norde.

--BERNAMA