BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Malaysia defender Adam Nor Azlin remarked that his team never looked back despite conceding first to Singapore, in their Group A SEA Games match on Wednesday.
The Young Lions opened the scoring against the run of play in the 38th minute through Amiruldin Nodin's stunning curling shot from outside the box after the hosts lost the ball cheaply in midfield, but second half double substitutes Nor Azam Azih and Thanabalan Nadarajah scored in the 68th and 74th minute to give the Young Tigers their second win in the group.
"Singapore's goal happened due to the defenders' failure to press [Amiruldin] in time, we lost our concentration there.
"We were stunned and down admittedly afterwards, but we never gave up. We proved that in the second half, and I'm proud of my teammates," said the 21-year old when met by Goal after the match.
When asked about what head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee's said to the team at halftime after going behind, the Selangor player responded that he told them to not give up.
"(He said) the fans saw our mistakes in attack and in defence and we couldn't give up.
"There was 45 minutes remaining in the match, and if Singapore could score a goal, the match was balanced, we needed to come back," explained Adam.
Malaysia are now second in the group, tied on six points with Myanmar whom they will face next, on Monday.
