Ruben points to two positives in Malaysia

The Reds were beaten by Muang Maung Lwin's strike in the 71st minute as, despite having much of the play, we were unable to find the net in Kuala Lumpur.

On a difficult surface, in extremely humid conditions, the Maybank Challenge Cup encounter precedes our final outing of the season, against Hong Kong, China.

The boss was able to rotate his squad to a large degree throughout the 90 minutes and has suggested some of those who featured may get longer to impress on Friday.

Jaydan Kamason looked bright in his short cameo before half-time, Sekou Kone was composed in midfield and Jim Thwaites showed the sort of determination Amorim respects by racing back to make a superbly timed goal-saving challenge on Adrian Segecic, with one of the final actions of the contest.

"We were expecting a good game, an intense game, in these conditions," said Amorim afterwards. "But the good thing is that we didn't have injuries and we saw the young kids.

"The important thing is no injuries, with this weather and everything that we did to arrive here in this day. But, again, it's not an excuse. We should perform better.

"We have to control the minutes of everybody. He [Kone] will play more in the next game on Friday. He did quite well but all the young kids tried, that is the most important thing. They want to play more but we have to rotate everybody, so everybody can play. They did well."

Ruben was also asked by the local broadcasters if there was anybody in the ASEAN All-Stars side who caught his eye.

“It’s hard to see that in the game, in post-season," he admitted. "They did really well defensively. I think Sergio Aguero is a good player, he controlled the midfield quite well. So, good players, that’s normal, and they deserve it.”

Aguero, who obviously shares his name with the former Manchester City and Argentina striker, captained the side and is a Malaysia international, despite being born in Argentina.