Selangor joins Kelantan in AFC Cup second round

Selangor booked a berth in the second round of the Asian Football Confederation's AFC Cup competition after edging Singapore's Tampines Rovers, 3-2 in their final Group H match at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore, Tuesday night.

The win saw Selangor clinch second spot in the group behind Kingfisher East Bengal of India with eight points, the same as Vietnam's Sai Gon Xuan Thanh but advanced with a better goal difference.

The Vietnam outfit was earlier beaten 1-4 by Kingfisher East Bengal FC from Kolkata, India at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, India.

At the Jalan Besar Stadium, Selangor were presented the first goal in the 28th minute when Tampines Rovers defender Muhammad Jufri Taha deflected the ball into his own net while Mohd Amri Yahyah made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time.

Selangor returned the 'own goal' favour to Tampines Rovers at the start of the second half when Selangor defender Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar deflected the ball into his own net in the 50th minute.

That goal seemed to have rattled Selangor as the visitors caved in again in the 58th minute when Aleksandar Duric struck the equaliser to level the score at 2-2.

However, Amri Yahya turned hero of the night with the winner in the 76th minute to accompany East Bengal FC into the second round.

At the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium in Kota Baharu, Kelantan were in superb form to overcome Myanmar's Ayeyawady United 3-1 to emerge as Group G leader with 13 points, one ahead of SHB Da Nang from Vietnam who also scored a comfortable 3-1 victory over Maziya Sports & Recreation FC from the Maldives.

Kelantan's goals came from Aussie import Dimitrios Petratos (42nd min), Nik Mohd Shahrul Azim Abdul Halim (70th min) and Mohd Badhri Mohd Radzi (83rd min) while Ayeyawady United scored its solitary goal through Nay Lin Tun in the 80th minute.