Kudos to JDT’s defence for holding J-League champs Kawasaki at bay

Get out of my way: JDT’s Matthew Davies (left) is challenged by Kawasaki Frontale’s Joao Schmidt Urbano during the match. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: A golden point made possible by a solid backline.

Johor Darul Ta’zim continued to surprise sceptics in the AFC Champions League when they held defending J-League champions Kawasaki Frontale 0-0 in their Group I game at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Thursday.

JDT coach Benjamin Mora said although he always aims for wins whenever he coaches the side, he described the draw as a ‘golden point’ for the Southern Tigers.

But what made him smile widely was the performance of his backline, comprising centrebacks Shane Lowry and Shahrul Saad, rightback Matthew Davies and leftback La’vere Corbin-Ong.

They certainly merited the praise as they did not allow Kawasaki to notch a single shot on target during the game.

Out of the four, Shahrul impressed the most as he notched three tackles, the most in the game; made four clearances, 10 recoveries and won five duels out of eight.

“Amazing. The four of them are amazing. I was telling my staff during the game my backline was terrific. They were strong with their challenges, made superb interceptions, were efficient in holding the defensive line and superb with their aerial and ground duels,” said Mora.

“It was a challenging game because the Japanese team were structured and tactically astute. We knew they would want to have most of the ball. We were betting on our fitness.

“Kawasaki had some dangerous players like number 19 (Daiya Tono), their number nine (Leandro Damiao) and their Brazilian winger (Marcinho), so we had to shift our tactics a bit.

“We did not have the ball much but we got the point. I would call this a golden point.”

When asked if the point was satisfying for the Mexican, as he said it was a golden one, Mora said: “Look, I always want to win. If we win, it would be easier but this is a game where we had to adapt to different zones.

“We tried to counter-attack, play the spaces, but it was a tactically tight game. I would say it is a good point against a real quality side. We ran more than them also.”

JDT are now top of the group with seven points and will continue their challenge when they face Kawasaki again at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Sunday.