Kuala Lumpur: Myanmar coach Antoine Hey believes Myanmar can take plenty of positives from the AFF Suzuki Cup despite a 3-0 loss to Myanmar in Group A on Saturday ending their chances of a second successive semi-final appearance.

Myanmar went into the game a point ahead of the Malaysians and knew if they avoided defeat at Bukit Jalal Stadium then they would secure a place in the last four, but they fell behind to Nohshahrul Idlan’s close-range finish on 26 minutes.

They were given a mountain to climb when Zaquan Adha converted from the spot as half-time approached. The visitors struggled to create chances after the interval and their fate was sealed when Zaquan rounded off the scoring two minutes from time.

“It was definitely not one of our best matches, but we knew having the last match away from home was a difficult schedule,” admitted Hey.

“In the first 10-15 minutes we had good chances on the counter-attack but we didn’t play them well. At 1-0 down the crowd started to get behind them just as we were starting to control things.

“We had a chance for an equaliser but we didn’t take it and the penalty just before half-time was the deciding goal tonight.”

Myanmar went into the game unbeaten having defeated both Cambodia and Laos before a scoreless draw with Vietnam left them on top of the standings with a game to play.

The task was always going to be a tough one in front of a packed Bukit Jalil Stadium, the reverse scenario to two years ago when Myanmar defeated the Malaysians on home soil in the final group game to progress to the last four.

With Vietnam also playing out a 3-0 victory over Cambodia, it was the Vietnamese and Malaysia who took the two qualification spots as Myanmar’s year ended on a low point.

“We have a couple of young players coming through and we gained a lot of experience,” added Hey. "It’s a new team, a new group and we have some very talented youngsters. We had a good learning process.

“We’ll now review the good and bad things about the tournament, including our preparation, and see what the programme is. We have FIFA matches in March and we’ll take it step by step, but first we have to get over this disappointment.”