New Sabah Times
KOTA KINABALU: High flying Sabahawks Juniors are back in pole position in the President’s Cup Group A standings after nicking a point away from Johor yesterday.
They drew one-all draw against Tengku Mahkota Ismail Sports School played at the Kejora Mini Stadium in Kota Tinggi.
The one point gained was enough for them to pip previous leaders Kedah from the top spot albeit with a slender one-point lead.
Sabahawks Juniors top the 13-team standings on 55 points from 17 wins, four draws and one defeat, while Kedah are closely in second on 54 points, followed by KL Sime Darby in third with 51 points.
For the record, Kedah did not see action yesterday as they had played their game earlier.
Despite the draw, Juil Nuatim is still praising his charges for returning home with a point.
The Sabah team manager said one point is better than losing the tie, which would have seen them trailing Kedah.
“As much as we wanted to win the game, but settling for a draw is better than not getting any point. Now at least the team managed to keep their unbeaten run intact.
“Furthermore, our target of wanting to conclude our challenge by winning the group is still pretty much in our own hands.
“There are another two games (group) to go, and I’m confident we can do it,” said Juil.
In the tie, Sabahawks Juniors were trailing as early as in the opening minute when the host were awarded a penalty kick barely 30 seconds into the game.
However, striker Eyo Mathew managed to put things on level terms with his 28th minute strike after finishing off a superb pass from midfielder Sabri Sahar.
Late on, head coach Johnny Dominicus said that they created numerous chances at taking the lead.
“We created enough chances to win the game, but unfortunately, we just could not translate them into goals. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the efforts put up by the players. The drawn game also saw us regain our top spot in the standings,” said Johnny.
Sabahawks next game is at home to bottom of the table Penang SDM on May 17 before concluding their group challenge away to Terengganu’s T-Team on May 24.
