Safuwan pleased, despite Melbourne City's loss
He scored his first goal for Melbourne City last week, becoming the first Singaporean footballer to score in the A-League - Australia's top football league.
Although international defender Safuwan Baharudin did not replicate his feat yesterday in his team's 1-0 loss to eighth-placed Central Coast Mariners, he was pleased with his performance.
"The weather was hot but it was just like the weather in Singapore, though more windy, but I coped well," said Safuwan, who joined City on a three-month loan from the LionsXII in January.
The 23-year-old was deployed as a left-back against the Mariners yesterday, and displayed good defensive skills especially against a 40th-minute move by the Mariners.
Despite being satisfied with his performance, Safuwan rued City's lost chances in his fourth game for them.
"It's difficult to pinpoint any one area we didn't do well, but at the end of the day it's about taking your chances, and we didn't," he said.
SUPERB PASSES
City had dominated play during the first half, but could not score despite superb passes from Safuwan and City defender Patrick Kisnorbo.
A free-kick by Fabio Ferreira in the 74th minute gave the Mariners the victory, and pushed City out of the top six.
"A loss to a team below us is hard to take, but this is football," said Safuwan. "We had our chances and we should have won the match."
A win for City would have cemented their position in the top six, increasing their chances of making it to the final series.
After yesterday's loss, they are now seventh in the league standings with Mariners remaining in eighth position.
City's next two matches - against 10th-placed Western Sydney Wanderers on Wednesday and ninth-placed Newcastle Jets on Saturday - will be crucial as they aim to regain a place in the top six and qualify for the final series.
Safuwan admits that playing three crucial games in seven days will be a "tough test" for the team.
"We're going to take things day by day and hopefully we will recover well from today's game," he added.
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