KUALA LUMPUR: The much-talked about Video Asssitant Referee (VAR) failed to work but Sri Pahang coach Fandi Ahmad had little to complain.
His side beat Kelantan Darul Naim (KDN) 1-0 in their Super League opener yesterday at the Majlis Perbandaran Temerloh Stadium.
Despite the successful implementation of VAR by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) during trial matches, a technical error saw it being abandoned in Pahang's home game.
Fandi said he and his players were surprised when notified of the VAR issue by match officials, but they continued to play.
Pahang's winner in the 63rd minute came through Argentine Manuel Hidalgo's superb freekick from outside the penalty area.
"For us, the show must go on, with or without VAR. I was not exactly sure what went wrong. They told us that there won't be VAR.
"Surely there were decisions during the match that could have gone either way, but we played our game. Whatever it is, this is beyond our control," said Fandi.
The MFL spent RM5-6 million on implementing VAR for the Super League.
Fandi was more than happy to the see Pahang finally winning their season opener after four years.
Although the Singapore legend was not entirely pleased with the Elephants' performance in the first half, winning three points on their opening day was all that mattered in the end.
"Finally in our fifth year, we won our first match of the season. Overall I think we were still slow off the blocks. We need to improve," said Fandi.