Needing only a point to progress to the Malaysia Cup quarter-final, both LionsXII and Johor FC started with only a man upfront as Sundram put faith on Khairul Amri while it was Arthur Henrique for the visitor.
The home side dominated the opening stages as they relied heavily on Shaiful Esah and Irwan Shah as they combined well and gave a hard time for Johor defender Hasni Zaidi down the left flank.
Chances were created but the home side failed to capitalise on it as Harris Harun, Amri and Shahril were guilty of half-hearted attempts on goal.
Johor’s only attempt in the opening half hour was through the lively Brazilian Henrique as he pulled the trigger from twenty five yards out which did not trouble Izwan Mahbud in goal.
Three minutes after the half hour mark, Sundram was forced to make a tactical switch as Juma’at Jantan went down injured after a collision with the opponent.
It was goalles at the break as the visitors' central defender Fernando Augusto was having a solid game at the back as he single handedly dealt with LionsXII crosses into the box.
The opening minutes of second half, Johor coach Sazali Saidon had to make changes to his side as he brought on Ismail Suboh in for the injured Henrique.
Ismail went straight to the middle of the field while Haris Safwan was pushed upfront as the visitors maintained their ten men behind the ball tactics.
At the hour mark, the Jalan Besar stadium was filled with boos from the fans as Johor were reluctant to play the ball upfield as centreback Izuan Jarudin and Fernando were satisfied to play the ball among themselves at the back.
The negative football by Johor was not only disgraceful but an insult to the paying fans at the stadium. Sections of the fans had enough of the action or rather the lack of it on the field as they made their way out of the stadium with ten minutes left on the clock.
The last thirty minutes saw no attempts on goal by both teams as eventually even the home side had enough of the visitors' unsporting behavior and gave up chasing after the ball.
The final whistle was met with a boisterous boo from the crowd who had had enough of the disgraceful showing in the second-half
With the result, both LionsXII and Johor FC advance to the quarter final stages of the Malaysia Cup.
