Kota Kinabalu: A goalless draw against Proton FC, in their away game at the MBPJ Stadium in Selangor, Monday, gave the Rhinos a valuable point to add to their tally in their bid for glory in this season's Premier League battle.
Rhinos Manager Rahman Zakaria, said that though he was less than impressed with the performance from his team, he was glad that they at least got a point from the match.
"We didn't play very well in this fixture. We lacked creativity and momentum from the first game to actually play convincing enough to win.
But I was happy with a few good performances from some of the players.
"Our keeper did well to keep the ball out from several close range efforts.
In the end we managed to walk away with a point and I'm quite happy with that. A point is better than none," said Rahman.
Rahman spoke proudly when commenting about his squad, saying that he has a good pool of talented players, though admitting that many are still very young and raw in terms of experience.
However, he feels that they would be able to develop better understanding and would improve in their game as they continue to progress through their match schedule.
"I think we have a good team. We have several experienced players and we also have some exciting talents in our younger players. I think playing one or two more games would give them the opportunity to click and develop better understanding on the pitch. This will improve their performance as a team," said Rahman.
A point meant the Rhinos, on four points, stayed near the top of the standings in third spot behind Harimau Muda and T-Team, who both had comfortable wins in their away fixtures against SDM FC and ATM respectively.
With a good home performance against SDM Kepala Batas last Friday and a satisfactory end in Monday's fixture, Rahman will expect nothing less from his boys when they take on Kuala Lumpur in an away opening fixture of the FA Cup on Jan 31.
For Rahman, the FA Cup is just as important as the league and doing well in both competitions is important to his team.
As former champions and three-time runners up, the Rhinos are expected to seize their chance this year to win back the Cup.
"I hope the players would take this opportunity to do their best to win the fixture so we can have a good advantage during the return leg on Feb 3.
"Sabah was the champion in 1995 and was runner up three times in 93, 94 and 98. I hope the players would take this opportunity to move forward and try their best to progress in this competition," said Rahman.
