Lack of concentration punished us - Zulhamizan Zakaria

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BY         NIK AFIQ        Follow on Twitter

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Zulhamizan Zakaria, coach of Kuantan FA admitted that his team were punished for their lack of focus in the dying seconds of the game.

After they’ve done superbly to come back from 4-0 down to equalize the score at 4-4, Kuantan bowed out from the FA Cup after Shahrel Fikri scored right at the death to seal the win for PKNP FC in the nine goal thriller.

Speaking after the game, Zulhamizan said: “I must congratulate my counterparts at PKNP for making it to the next round. I must congratulate my players for making a comeback from 4-0 down to equalize the game 4-4.”

“But, this is football. We lost our focus at the last minute after we worked so hard and we were punished by it.”

Zulhamizan said some encouraging words after a terrible first half display, and it seemed to work until their lapse of focus costed them the game.

“Our backline didn’t do their job well in the first half. They were playing offside trap strategy which we did not instruct and hence I had to make some changes and it worked.”

“I told my players, FA Cup is different from the league. We need to go out and pressure them. We did that but we lost our conceentration.”

“It hurts to be punished that way, I must say. In football, you lose your focus, you will get that kind of punishment,” added Zulhamizan.

Kuantan FA were knocked out from the tournament despite their brave effort to come back from 4-0 down, only to lose the game 5-4 just before the final whistle.