September 15, 2004

AFC Cup 2004 Quarter-finals – First Leg

Geylang United took a significant step towards the semi-finals of the inaugural AFC Cup as they scored a 2-1 away win over Malaysian side Perak in the first leg of their quarter-final encounter.

While the Eagles have had a poor domestic season in the S-League where they are set to finished in their worst ever league position, it is the opposite ibn the AFC Cup where the Singapore club have had some great results like the 1-1 draw with 2003 ASEAN & 2004 Indian NFL champion East Bengal at Salt Lake Stadium as well as the double wins over 2003 Malaysia FA Cup Champion Negri Sembilan.

The Eagles showed the 4-months break in action in the AFC Cup action had no effect on them as they continued their good form with another excellent result against the 2003 Malaysian league champions at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh.

After a scoreless opening half, the Eagles went ahead in the as foreign striker Aleksander Duric scored on the counterattack beating an offside trap before chipping the ball over the advancing Perak goalkeeper Hamsani Ahmad. 5 minutes later, Geylang stretched their lead to 2-0 when youngster Fazrul Nawaz robbed the ball from Asmawi Bakiri on the left & sprinted down the centre. He then chipped the ball over centreback Azlan Zainal before blasting a shot past the rooted Hamsani. A fine solo effort by the youngster to give the Eagles a 2-0 commanding lead.

Perak suffered a further setback when centreback Azlan Zainal was sent off 5 minutes before the end for bringing down Wayne St John O’Sullivan. Luckily though the Malaysian club gave themselves some hope in the tie as they pulled a goal back in the second minute of injury time through Liberian striker Frank Seator who replaced K. Yoganathan but the silver state side will have plenty to do in the return match at the Bedok Stadium on September 21.