'As long as we don’t lose' - V.Sundramoorthy on LionsXII's clash against Johor FA

Sitting pretty atop of Group A after a 3-1 home win over Selangor PKNS FC on Saturday night, LionsXII will be looking to hold onto that position as they travel to Johor FA next to play their third game.

The Lions had to come from behind to trump the visitors after conceding an early goal, but the three strikes answered critics who had earlier claimed that the Singapore side had trouble scoring.

Left-back Shaiful Esah, who netted a stunning freekick from range to give his team the lead and will likely be one of the key figures in the Johor game, said that the Lions had been buoyed by the win.

“Everybody is confident after this good result, which is a morale booster," said Shaiful.

"People say that it’s difficult for us to score goals, but actually it is not. It’s all about luck; we can try and try, and if the goals come in then it’s good for us, but [if it doesn’t] we won’t stop trying.”

A possible area their opponents on Tuesday could look to exploit is the lack of concentration at times from the Lions, which vice-skipper Hariss Harun admitted had to be cut out if they are to get a good result against Johor FA.

“I lost the ball and we conceded the first goal, so I think we need to look out for these kinds of things and avoid them," he told Goal.com Singapore.

"It’s about being more focused and concentrating on putting the ball in the net, and of course, keeping things tight.”

Johor FA, who play in the second-tier Malaysia Premier League and finished fourth in the recently concluded campaign, come into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat against Johor FC.

Managed by former Singapore striker Fandi Ahmad, they only have one point to their name after an opening draw with PKNS, and will undoubtedly be fired up to get a vital win.

However, Shaiful claimed that it wasn’t all about ‘Fandi and Sundram’, as the two Singapore legends go head to head in the first of two eagerly-anticipated encounters, with the reverse fixture to be played on Saturday.

“It’s just another game, and we will try to collect the points," he pointed out.

"It’s about us going through to the quarter finals.”

In contrast to his players’ confidence, V. Sundramoorthy tried to play down expectations about the upcoming clash at the Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos Stadium saying: “It’s always tough playing away. We would love to win, but [even] if we [only] pick up a point, I won’t be complaining, actually. As long as we don’t lose; that is important."