KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s quest for promotion to the Super League next season has come to an end.
The Rhinos are now certain to feature in the Premier League for the third consecutive season. The Malaysia Cup is the only hardware available for them to fight for and to win it to end their season on a positive note.
The narrow 1-0 defeat to Johor Pasir Gudang in an away battle in the Premier League on Tuesday has killed off whatever hopes there were left for them after UPB-MyTEAM registered a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Kelantan on the same night.
What is left for Sabah to fight for is a third-place finish, which Selangor PKNS currently occupy. However, the club side has played one more game than fourth placed Sabah.
Police meanwhile is edging ever closer to the Premier League crown after notching a 3-1 win over KL Plus. They currently lead the pack in the 11-team standings on 40 points with three games to go.
Second-placed UPB-MyTeam is five points behind and is followed by PKNS on 26 and Sabah on 25 points. Both Police and the UPB-MyTEAM are assured of a place in the Super League next season.
In Tuesday night’s action, Johor’s Azlie Kidam struck the killer blow to what ever interest the Rhinos had of promotion when he scored the solitary goal of the night five minutes from regulation time at the Dato Hassan Yunus Stadium in Larkin.
The Rhinos were also shown the exit in the FA Cup after losing to Perlis in the quarter-finals on a 5-2 aggregate.
But Sabah can still redeem their pride in the Malaysia Cup.
But after having to suffer defeats in succession, it remains to be seen if they can bounce back in the country’s most oldest and prestigious competition where the dethroned Super League champion Negeri Sembilan NAZA await them in the quarter-finals.
Sabah will be playing the first leg of the quarter-finals, on an away match on August 8 and the return leg at the Likas Stadium which has been slated for August 15.
The final has been fixed for September 8.
Sabah next fixture is a Premier League home tie against Shahzan Muda on June 12.
