Kuantan: Debutants FC Istiklol from Tajikistan secured a meeting with three-time winners Kuwait SC in the semi-finals of the AFC Cup despite losing Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg 3-1 to Malaysia’s Pahang FA at Stadium Darul Makmur.
Trailing 4-0 from last month’s first leg, Malaysia Super League runners-up Pahang took the lead through Hafiz Kamal after 31 minutes only to be reduced to 10 men at the end of the first half as Mohamad Saiful was sent-off.
Kamal was still able to add a second before the hour mark, but after Khurshed Makhmudov netted a crucial away goal for Istiklol soon after, an injury time strike from substitute Saarvindran Devendran was unable to deny the visitors who sealed a 5-3 win on aggregate.
Pahang came close to enjoying a dream start after just three minutes when Azammuddin Akil saw his header crash against the crossbar.
But despite dominating the opening half hour, the hosts were unable to make their chances count as Pahang were undone by poor finishing inside the penalty area.
And Istiklol’s Fathullo Fathulloev forced Pahang goalkeeper Nasril Nourdin into two key saves as the winger exploited the gaps left behind by the home defence.
Pahang’s pressure, though, finally paid off a minute after the half hour mark when Kamal timed his run perfectly to head home a Ravindran Surendren cross at the far post.
Istiklol were nearly handed an equaliser soon after as a defensive slip up by Pahang right-back Aziz Ismail saw Fathulloev break away on the right and round Nourdin outside the area only to see his effort hit the wrong side of the side netting.
Pahang’s task, though, was made harder as centre-back Saiful was dismissed in first half stoppage time.
But despite the one-man disadvantage, the home side doubled their lead two minutes before the hour mark when Nigerian striker Dickson Nwakaeme squared the ball for Kamal to stab home from inside the area.
Their joy, though, was short-lived as three minutes later when Makhmudov edged ahead of his marker to shoot past the onrushing Nourdin.
But Pahang refused to give up despite the uphill task of overcoming the aggregate deficit and the home side piled on the pressure in the final third in the closing stages
And Pahang were rewarded in injury time when substitute Devendran scored from outside the area to seal the win on the night for the home side, although it proved too late to rescue the tie.
BY MARK DAWSON
Pahang 3(3)-1(5) FC Istiklol - Elephants crash out of AFC
Cup despite win
Despite a victory, Pahang were unable to overcome a four goal deficit from the first leg, and are out of the AFC Cup
BY MARK DAWSON
After a damaging 4-0 defeat two weeks ago in Tajikistan, Pahang knew that any hope of a comeback was dependent on a strong start, ideally with a couple of goals to get them back into the tie. However the opening half hour was a cautious affair with Istiklol looking to keep things tight with men behind the ball, and hit a desperate Pahang team on the counter attack.
The home team did breathe life into the game and the quarter final on 31 minutes as Hafiz Kamal gave them the lead. The goal came about following great work on the right flank by R Surendren as he beat his man before delivering a teasing cross to the far post. While the Istiklol defender initially looked favourite to head the ball clear, Kamal showed great determination to throw himself at the ball and send a bullet header into the roof of the net.
Despite going behind on the evening, the counter attacking threat of the visitors was displayed soon after, with Fathullo Fathulloev going close. The striker latched onto a through ball and rounded Pahang keeper Nasril Nourdin with some tidy footwork, however despite the goal being exposed he could only prod the ball wide as Pahang's covering defenders pressured him.
Pahang's chances of going into the semi finals was effectively ended on the stroke of halftime with the harsh dismissal of Mohd Saiful. Both he and Fathulloev ended up on the ground after competing for the ball and in the melee Saiful's trailing leg came down on Fathulloevs head, causing a cut to the forward. While it could be argued that Saiful did not deliberately intend to cause harm to his opponent, his subsequent behaviour in failing to exit the pitch and angrily confronting the match official was an embarrassment for Pahang.
Despite being down to ten men, Pahang incredibly made it 2-0 on 58 minutes again through Hafiz Kamal. Dickson Nwakaeme, still frustrated at the incident at the end of the first half, was the creator, as he turned Siyovush Asrorov inside out on the left-hand side. Once he got to the byline he cut the ball back for an onrushing Kamal who finished with calmness, sliding the ball home.
Any hopes of a great comeback were extinguished three minutes later as Istiklol scored the goal that killed the tie. Another through ball caught out Pahang's flat backline, with Zesh Rehman particularly guilty on being sucked out towards the ball and not following his man. Khurshed Makhmudov latched onto the pass and demonstrated great poise to cooly side foot the ball home past an onrushing Nourdin.
Unsurprisingly with a man disadvantage, Pahang continued to look vulnerable as the game wore down. They were fortunate that the game was not level at 2-2 on 80 minutes as Istiklol again had the ball in the net. This time it was Dilshod Vasiev who got on the end of a through ball and rounded Nourdin, but he was wrongly adjudged to be offside in a poor decision by the referee's assistant.
In the 93rd minute Pahang but a gloss on the scoreline through Savindran. It was a classic goal on the counter with Gopinathan beginning the move, before Conti played the ball inside to an onrushing Savindran's who shot
was deflected past a despairing Nikola Stosic in the Istiklol goal. However despite the 3-1 win, Pahang's
AFC Cup adventure is over for another year after their poor first-leg performance gave them too big a
mountain to climb.
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