SINGAPORE — The LionsXII’s bid to win the Malaysian Super League and Malaysia Cup double in only their sophomore season back in Malaysian football competitions suffered a fresh and deadly blow last night after they lost 1-0 to Perak.

The defeat was the Singapore side’s second away loss on the trot and has now left them rooted at the bottom of Group D with only one point after three games.

It is do or die for V Sundramoorthy’s men from now on.

Their remaining three matches — two home games against Perak and Sarawak, and an away fixture to Kedah — are now all must-win affairs.

The LionsXII can no longer afford to drop any more points.

Otherwise, they will be staring at the prospect of crashing out of the group stages of the Malaysia Cup, an embarrassing end to the past two months of celebration and adulation from their fans after they had won the MSL crown on home soil.

Sundram is well aware of the new pressures that have been heaped on his shoulders as a result of last night’s loss, which have virtually assured Perak of passage into the knock-out stages of the Cup.

But the 48-year-old former international remains defiant and has refused to throw in the towel.

“Saturday’s home game against Perak will decide our fate,” he said.

“But I firmly believe we will rise to the occasion and deliver the goods. The real LionsXII team will turn up on Saturday.”

The LionsXII that turned up last night in the second half after a poor first 45 minutes was a decent version.

Indeed, “heartwarming” was the word Sundram used to describe it. For they had their fair share of possession and attack, but just could not find the vital breakthrough.

“Only the goals did not come for us,” he added.

Perak fared slightly better — they scored only once. But that eighth-minute goal which happened when the LionsXII defence failed to clear a long-throw, allowing Azlan Ismail to tap in from point-blank range, was enough to seal the win.

Subsequent poor finishing by Perak’s attacking duo of Azlan and Paulo Rangel in the first half and a brilliant save by LionsXII keeper Izwan Mahbud seconds after the restart meant that the LionsXII were still in with a shout with 44 minutes left to play.

The introduction of Faris Ramli for Syafiq Zainal also sparked some life into the LionsXII attack, and the visitors finally registered their first shot on target in the 65th minute.

However, despite a late rally, which saw Shahril Ishak, Baihakki Khaizan and Safuwan Baharudin all squander chances to level the score, the LionsXII were not able to breach the Perak defence and now face an uphill task to qualify for the knockout stages of the Malaysia Cup.