Kota Kinabalu (Dec 21) - Sabah FC suffered another home disappointment after being beaten 3–1 by visiting Brunei side DPMM FC in a Malaysia Super League match at Likas Stadium on Sunday night.
The visitors stunned the home crowd by taking the lead in the 19th minute to go 1–0 ahead. The opening goal was scored by Muhammad Ramadhan Sananta, who capitalised on Sabah’s defensive line being caught out of position, allowing him to beat goalkeeper Damien Lim with ease.
Trailing early, the Sang Badak responded by mounting several attacking moves and created a number of dangerous chances, but their efforts failed to find the target before the break.
After the restart, Sabah attempted to make a strong comeback with early pressure. Their striker R. Dinesh came close with a header in front of goal, but the attempt went wide.
DPMM FC, however, refused to sit back and continued to press Sabah, who were searching for an equaliser after going into halftime 1–0 down. The sustained pressure paid off in the 74th minute when Tommy Mawat Bada struck to give the visitors a 2–0 advantage.
Just a minute later, Sabah found a lifeline as striker Ajdin Mujagic pulled one back to reduce the deficit to 2–1 and reignite hopes of a comeback.
Those hopes were dashed in the 85th minute when DPMM captain Muhammad Azwan Ali Rahman netted the visitors’ third goal, restoring their two-goal cushion.
With the score at 3–1 late in the game, Sabah faced an uphill task to find two goals to salvage at least a point. Despite eight minutes of added time awarded by the referee, the hosts were unable to score again and instead continued to face pressure from the Brunei side, who comfortably saw out the match with their three-goal lead intact.