Young Lions continue revival

From one point to seven, in just two weeks.

The Courts Young Lions continued their resurgence with a 1-0 win over Gombak United at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night.

Last Friday, Robin Chitrakar's charges recorded their first victory of the season with a 5-0 thumping of Tanjong Pagar United.

Before that, the Young Lions had lost six and drawn one of their first seven games of the season.

Last night's win saw the Under-23 side leapfrog Geylang United - who drew 0-0 with Albirex Niigata - to 11th.

Chitrakar stressed the importance of keeping the morale of the team high, saying: "The important thing tonight was the three points.

"Now, we have to look ahead to our next game against Tampines, concentrate throughout the week and make sure we really want something from that game as well."

Sherif El-Masri netted the decisive goal last night after 13 minutes.

Fazli Ayob tore down the right wing after beating the Gombak offside trap, to set El-Masri up with an easy finish at the far post.

Former LionsXII player Fazli, who made only one appearance in four months for the Malaysian Super League leaders, showed no signs of ring rust as he put in a lively performance leading the Young Lions attack.

But Gombak came close to equalising on several occasions after the Canadian Under-23 international's strike.

Hafiz Rahim struck the crossbar for the Bulls with an excellent volley just before the interval. And, with arguably Gombak's best chance of the game, the 28-year-old fired a volley from close range straight at Syazwan Buhari just seconds before time.

Not easy

"It wasn't an easy game, because Gombak really came at us in the second half," said Chitrakar. "We became a bit more conservative after the break, because we knew Gombak were going to play long balls.

"But the boys stood strong. Luck definitely played a part in the win, but I don't want to take any credit away from my boys."

Gombak coach K Balagumaran said: "After our last game (a 2-0 win over Geylang), morale was high and we were looking forward to the three points tonight.

"But we couldn't settle and the Young Lions dominated the midfield in the first 15 to 20 minutes.

"But I'm happy with the way we played in the second half, and I still think we didn't play a bad game. We just didn't take our chances."

This article was first published in The New Paper.