PETALING JAYA, June 23 — Penang striker Baddrol Bakhtiar saved Malaysia's blushes as he scored the winner against minnows New Caledonia yesterday.

Harimau Malaysia, who were slaughtered by critics after their humiliating 2-0 loss to Papua New Guinea last Friday, had to comeback from a goal down before winning 2-1.

In the first half, Datuk Ong Kim Swee's side struggled to find their rhythm and went a goal down after Jean-Philippe Saiko scored in the 20th minute.

Kim Swee shuffled his pack in the second half and it paid immediate dividends as midfielder Amirulhadi Zainal levelled in the 48th minute.

Malaysia stepped up their game and got their second from a successful freekick by Baddrol after the 54th minute.

“Our boys responded positively in the second half and it was their determination that made the difference,” said a relieved Kim Swee.

“After trailing by a goal down, I told the boys during the break to be more aggressive and move forward more, and it worked.

“There were instances during the match where certain players should not have been yellow carded, or freekicks awarded, and it is such instances which teach us how to respond positively when the referee is difficult,” he said, as Azrif Nasrulhaq got his second yellow card in the 82nd minute.

Malaysia will need more than a win against the 183 ranked New Caledonia for the team to redeem themselves, as Kim Swee tries to bring back the glory days.

Malaysia’s highest ranking of 75 was achieved in 1993.

The national team are now ranked No 173, and their next test will be Fiji on Sunday, who are ranked186.

 After that they play archrivals Singapore on September 1. Singapore are ranked No 149.

Meanwhile, the National Under-22 squad which is also the 2017 SEA Games Project squad lost 1-0 to Japanese Division One club Shonan Bellmare in a friendly at the Shonan Training Ground in Kanagawa.

Shota Tamura scored the solitary goal from the penalty spot reported Bernama.

The Malaysian squad are on a playing-cum-training trip to Japan, held Japan's Division Two club Machida Zelvia 3-3 at the Atletik Machida Stadium in Tokyo on Monday.

Frank Bernhardt’s boys were to have played the first match against Division One club Yokohama at the Yokohama Training Ground on June 13, but the match was cancelled due to bad weather.

The Under-22 squad which arrived in Chiba on June 10, end their tour on Tuesday.