Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: Poor pitch condition was the main concern for coach David McCreery as the deadline for finalising the State M-League team nears.
With the Sabah Football Association set to announce the players to play for the State by Friday including the imports , the appalling pitch at the Likas Sports Complex 'B" field due to the heavy weather had hampered the task of finalising the list of players handled by David and his assistants Andrew Majanggim and Johnny Dominicus.
The team was unable to use the main stadium which is temporarily closed for renovation until the end of the year so is the Penampang Stadium in preparation for the Sabah Games to be held here next year.
The trial on Monday morning saw all the players having a tough time to showcase their abilities under the soggy condition and David was sympathetic with them.
"It was just difficult for everybody with the current pitch condition and it was also unfair for the players as under such circumstances, no one will be able to produce their best."
He said there will be two more sessions to be held at the same pitch today and tomorrow unless they are allowed to play at the UMS Stadium.
Meanwhile, four foreign import strikers are here trying their luck with the team.
The first to arrive was the product of EPL's West Ham United Academy Ibrahima Sow, a French Senegalese followed by Moroccan Zakaria Saylane, Senegalese Pape Leter and Fokim Fonda from Cameroon who was the last to arrive on Sunday night.
Two more are believed to be on the way here with one from Sudan and the other from Ivory Coast.
A Peninsula based striker who played in a Super League team last season was one of the few who managed to make their mark during the trial here together with former State player Hardy Charles Parsi who last played for ATM in the 2011 season.
The only Peninsula player that the FA had confirmed signed so far was T-Team striker Khairul Izuan Khalid who played with his new teammates on Monday and the FA Vice President ll Datuk Yusof Kassim was also present during the session talking to the coaches.
