MALE: Victory SC coach Ali Suzain was left re-assessing his AFC Cup aspirations after being heartened by the Maldives side’s performance as they held 2009 AFC Champions League participants Sriwijaya to a goalless draw in their opening game in Group F.

The Indonesians had started the stronger but Victory weathered the early pressure and even matched their more experienced opponents for spells after that, creating a number of chances to snatch all three points.

The woodwork denied both sides in the second half with Zah Rahan Krangar and Ismail Easa seeing their efforts rattle the bar.

Victory failed to win a single game in their last AFC Cup appearance two years ago but Suzain was feeling confident about their chances in this edition following the draw.

“I am happy with the result,” he said. “This is a AFC Champions League level team and we can only get a chance like the one Easa found to score. If he managed to score from that one, it would have been interesting.

“Before this game, we were thinking about only six games. But today we drew at home, we have two more games at home, so there is a possibility of a seventh game.

“The players that have recently joined the club will improve as they begin to gel with the other players as we play more games.”

Suzain was particularly pleased with the performance of Ismail Mohamed, who climbed off the bench in the 77th minute for his first competitive appearance in two years.

“His performance so late in the game proved his worth for Victory and national team. With more training, I hope he will show his full potential this year,” he added.

Sriwijaya coach Rahmad Darmawan was disappointed his side did not make the most of their chances in the game.

“I am not happy with the result, but a goalless draw in an away game is not a bad one,” he said. “We had four clear chances but failed to convert any.

“Even the foreign players couldn’t perform up to their level and that’s another problem we faced.”

Despite the result, Darmawan insists it does not change his target of reaching the knock-out stage of the tournament.

”Before the game we knew Victory are a strong team and South China are also a strong team but we still expect second round,” he added.

“We will now target to get a good result against Victory in our home game”

Photo Caption: Victory SC Coach Ali Suzain
Source: the-afc.com