Twenty-five minutes. That was how far the Warriors were away from securing an unlikely draw against K-League champions Suwon Bluewings at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday. Alas, the Warriors eventually lost 0-2.
A penalty decision awarded after Daniel Bennett was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box in the 65th minute then ended the stout resistance the Warriors had put up.
Suwon's forward Edu promptly converted the penalty. Six minutes later, he fired in an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to seal a win for the Koreans.
Warriors coach Richard Bok felt that the penalty was a harsh decision. He said: "I thought we were doing well in the game until what looked to me like a harsh penalty.
“That really changed the game for us as it broke our spirit. I thought that we had given a good account of ourselves until that point. The players stuck to the game plan and gave 100%.
“I can’t say too much about the awarding of the penalty because even the referee didn’t see anything – it was the linesman who saw it. One moment we were controlling the ball and the next we had conceded a penalty and I thought that was very harsh.”
However, Suwon coach Cha Bum Kun felt that the penalty was justified.
Although the Warriors were pegged back for much of the game, they did give a good account of themselves. Captain Aleksandar Duric had a shot on goal saved by the goalkeeper in the first half while Ahmad Latiff, John Wilkinson and Park Tae Won took turns to test the Korean backline after the break.
At the back, goalkeeper Shahril Jantan did well to keep the scoreline intact saving well from Cho Yong Tae in the 60th minute before tipping over Baek Ji Hoon's freekick soon after.
Then, came the penalty decision that ended the stout resistance.
Other result in Group G:
Kashima Antlers 2 Shanghai Shenhua 0
Upcoming games (7 Apr):
SAFFC v Kashima Antlers (7.30pm, Jalan Besar Stadium),
Shanghai Shenhua v Suwon Bluewings (8pm, Hongkou Stadium)
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