KOTA KINABALU (Nov 12): Taiki Kagayama scored four minutes into the extra time to send Sabah FC into the Malaysia Cup semifinals on Friday night.
The Japanese forward’s vital goal earned the Rhinos a 1-1 draw against Kuching City FC in the quarterfinal second leg tie at the Likas Stadium that resulted in a 2-1 aggregate win for the home side.
The first leg tie at the State Stadium in Kuching last week had ended 1-0 in favour of Sabah FC.
Sabah FC went into the match on Friday night with up to five key players missing through injury but that did not stop them from having the better of the first half exchanges.
Captain Baddrol Bakhtiar had Sabah’s best chance but his headed effort from point blank range was turned over the bar by goalkeeper Shaiful Wazizi Mohamad.
Kuching City replied through Abu Kamara who found the back of the net with a firm header but it was ruled out for offside.
The first half ended scoreless.
The teams re-emerged for the second half action and it was Kuching City who showed more urgency and hunger to win as they went all out to attack in search of the goal.
Damien Lim, who is deputising for the injured number one goalie Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, was called on to make several big saves to keep Kuching City at bay.
Damien was beaten in the 83rd minute when the unfortunate Ummareng Bachok turned the ball into his own net following a corner kick from Amir Amri Salleh.
Kuching City held onto their one-goal advantage on the night, and 1-1 on aggregate, to force the match into extra time.
The extra time was only four-minute old when Kagayama scored the all important goal.
From a Saddil Ramdani’s cross from the right, the unmarked Kagayama headed past Shaiful to send the crowd into frenzy.
Kuching City, as they have shown over two legs, did not surrender easily as they created many chances towards the end but Damien stood firm to deny the opponents from grabbing a late winner.
With the victory, Sabah FC set up a semifinal clash against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), who advanced after beating Kelantan 5-0 for an 8-0 aggregate win in the other quarterfinal tie on Friday night.