Yadanarbon forward Babo (left) fights for the ball in his side’s 2-1 victory over Magway on June 25.

YADANARBON FC moved top of the MNL Cup table with a 2-1 victory over Magway FC at Thuwanna Stadium on June 25.

The clash between the top-two sides drew about the same number of supporters as the Yadanarbon-Yangon match last week, with in excess of 40,000 people crammed into the ground.

Generally, Yadanarbon deserved the three points, although Magway occas-ionally broke the Mandalay side’s dominance through swift counterattacks.

New signing Valery linked up well with Kambou in the first minute to create a chance for striker Yan Paing but the Magway defenders just managed to clear the danger.

It was a surprise then when Magway took the lead a few minutes later. Lone striker Sithu Win held onto the ball on the left flank before teeing up teammate Soe Min Naing and the midfielder calmly slid the ball past Yadanarbon keeper Yin Min Aung for the opener.

Yadanarbon worked hard to get back into the match and created several chances. After nine minutes, Yan Paing found himself one-on-one with Magway keeper Myo Kyaw Aung after a long ball upfield but he shot over the bar.

Their endeavour to find an equaliser led Yadanarbon to occasionally bend the rules and after six minutes forward Babo was shown a yellow card by referee U Win Cho.

It was midfielder and man of the match Aung Kyaw Moe – also the hero against Yangon United last week with a late equaliser – who hit back for Yadanarbon on 21 minutes, firing home from the right side of the penalty area.

 

Magway FC then had several chances to extend their lead, including a 32nd minute free kick that was blasted over by Soe Min Naing, and was punished for their profligacy just before half time.

On 45 minutes, Thuyein Soe trapped the ball on the right flank and slotted a ball past the defenders to striker Yan Paing, who made amends for his earlier miss by beating Myo Kyaw Aung.

Yadanarbon continued to dominate the play early in the second half but lost momentum when they were forced to replace Yan Paing with Toure. One of the bright spots for the Mandalay club was winger Valery Sanou, who joined from Thai side Maung Thoung on June 21 to replace the injured Lassina Kone. However, the Magway defence did well to prevent him from getting on the end of any chances.

Magway offered little up front in the second half and didn’t recover from the loss of Sithu Win, who had to be substituted in the 32nd minute after he injured his knee in a tangle with the Yadanarbon keeper.

Magway coach U Kyi Lwin lamented his team’s defensive performance but still claimed the result was a “win” for his side because they didn’t use foreign players.

“In today’s match, my defenders didn’t follow my instructions and made mistakes that allowed Yadanarbon to score the winning goal. Although we lost 2-1, I think we were the real winners because our opponent’s used both foreign players and coach,” U Kyi Lwin said at the post match press conference.

Yadanarbon coach Yoan Girard said his side was now looking ahead to their must-win match against Okkthar United on June 28.

“We can’t say that we are sure to make the final yet. We will have to wait for the result from our next match [against Okkthar United],” Mr Girard said, before praising the performance of striker Yan Paing, who scored the decisive goal. “Yan Paing had to play today’s match despite being ill and I thought he did a great job.”