Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah M-League team will open their campaign in the 2013 Premier League season against KL SPA Putrajaya FC at home on Jan 7.
The venue is yet to be confirmed as the Likas Stadium is still under renovation even though it is believed that work will be finished by the end of the month.
However, the match against newcomers KL SPA may work well with the team as they need to get a good start with a relatively new set of players in the new season.
According to Sabah's new signing Khairul Izwan Khalid who last played for T-Team, KL SPA consist of mostly junior players with only two seniors in the team.
He said he was asked to attend trial with the team earlier before he received an offer from Sabah after winning over the management here during a trial.
Sabah's next match is a much tougher tie on Jan 11 against Sime Darby FC who had knocked them out in the first round of the FA Cup match last season.
They will have three more first round Premier league matches to play in January with NS Betaria FC (at home on Jan 14), UiTM FC (away on Jan 18) and Kedah (at home on Jan 21).
They also have to play their first round of the FA Cup match against Felda United at home on Jan 26.
Meanwhile, the State team may get to travel to the Peninsula for the pre-season friendly matches at the end of the month.
Head coach David McCreery said they would most likely open their tour with a match against the Red Giants, Selangor followed by T-Team and another team before the start of their quest for a quick return to the Super League in the New Year.
If everything goes to plan, the match against Selangor will definitely give an idea of how the new look Sabah team fare in the coming season after all the hard work done by the coaches.
It will also serve as a perfect platform for new import Koh Traore from Mali who had been in explosive form during the training sessions so far whether he can truly deliver against strong oppositions.
