SHAWAL SHOW SENDS SAILORS THROUGH

Forward plays pivotal role as Singapore side ease past Muangthong to book q-final spot

- Melvyn Teoh

With a hand in all four goals, Shawal Anuar called the tune as the Lion City Sailors marched into the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League Two with a 4-0 thrashing of Thailand's Muangthong United on Feb 20.

The convincing last-16, second-leg victory at the Jalan Besar Stadium, where Maxime Lestienne and Bart Ramselaar also got on the score sheet, gave the Sailors a 7-2 aggregate score and US$160,000 (S$214,000) in prize money.

They will next meet J1 League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who thrashed Vietnam's Nam Dinh 7-0 on aggregate.

A delighted Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic said: "I think if you see the two matches that we played against them, it was obvious that we are the ones that deserve to go through.

"Of course, we started the match amazingly and it's not the first time. You can be lucky one time, but we are always training for these kinds of situations and we have players who can provoke these kinds of goals. I'm happy with the win."