Despite the relative difference in terms of squad quality and what Johor Darul Ta'zim have achieved compared to PJ City, the latter has continually been a bogey team to the former and last night's game at Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium was almost another potential shock.
But it didn't turned out to be that way despite Washington Brandao and R. Barathkumar scoring a goal each to cancel out JDT's two-goal lead through Safawi Rasid and Diogo Luis Santo. Just shortly after making it 2-2, PJ City found themselves trailing almost immediately and that left head coach K. Devan fuming.
"We conceded an early goal due to the defensive lapse for not following Safawi. After that we took too long to get into the game and to settle down. We couldn't play our usual game in the first half but in the second half, we showed that we can play. We managed to get level.
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"But after we scored the second goal, we weren't focus and concentrated enough defensively and allowed JDT to come back within a minute. That is not acceptable at this level. You have to be organised and that cost us. To my mind, the second, third and fourth JDT goals were down to my poor defence," said Devan in the post-match press conference.
Putting the final result to one side, Devan and PJ City could still take plenty of solace in the manner which they came back into the match and that spirit must be harnessed in the remaining four matches in Group B, if they want to progress further in the competition.
PJ City's next two matches are the home and away ties against UiTM FC and they will be looking to gain maximum points to add to their current three points against a team, one division lower than them in the hierarchy of Malaysian football.
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