The game started promisingly for the home team with Sarawak taking the Lions by the horns. The visiting Lions were left stunned as they remained pinned at their half, absorbing Sarawak's continuous attacks. 

Zamri Morshidi came close to putting the home team in front, but his shot was denied by Lions replacement goalkeeper Hyrulnizam Jumaat.  Sarawak continued to dominate play as they retained possession, much to the delight of the roaring crowd. 

However, the Lions almost came close to slotting in a goal when Madhu Mohana's header cannoned off the crossbar. 

One of the floodlights then went off, and the game turned a little dull after it resumed with both teams failing to create clear chances.  Sarawak however had more chances before Hyrulnizam's complain of crowd trouble stopped the game.

The second-half resumed with the Crocs determined to win the game, however, their effort was foiled by poor finishing.  In the 71st minute, the Lions got their lucky break when Yosri Derma Raju's hand hit the ball inside the penalty area to concede a soft penalty. Sharil Ishak came forward, and powered home the spot kick, giving the Lions the lead.

Sarawak didn't give up, and started to launch countless attacks.  Their effort was however denied by the heroic Hyrulnizam who saved no less than six shots on his goal.  The Lions seemed comfortable with the one-goal lead and afforded taking Shahril off for Khairul Nizam. 

As the game grew more tense the referee brandished more cautions, more for the home team who were not too pleased about the official's decisions.

Sarawak, however, failed to hit the target in the dying minutes with their best effort as Ashri's free-kick which looked to be heading in was tipped wide by Hyrulnizam, handing the LionsXII a lucky win for the night.

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