Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: A poor Sabah side succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Kedah in the Premier League match at the Likas Stadium on Monday.
A goal from each half saw the visiting team come away with full points and it was also the first home defeat for Sabah in the 2013 season.
The team was simply not good enough with the performance shown if they want to return to the Super League next season.
Sabah had a marvellous chance early on to open the scoring but Wan Aliff Wan Jasmi missed his kick instead and things went from bad to worse from then on as Kedah, powered by Sabah rejects Zuraindey Jumai and Mohd Farris Mat Isa, took control of the match and had the home players pinned in their own half.
The players were unable to win the ball with missing tackles and failure to deliver good crosses completely unzipped the back that caused the dismal performance that ultimately cost them the game.
Despite the presence of Rhys David Weston, the overworked defence finally caved in in the 39th minute with a swiftly taken half volley from Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri.
From that point, Sabah had a steep uphill battle to get anything from the game.
The introduction of Koh Traore and Leopold Alfonso at the restart seemed to work in the early stages and it was also the first time in the afternoon that they managed to test the Kedah goalkeeper with several shots on target.
However, the players faded away as the match wore on and Kedah again took control after that and they played the ball around through the Sabah defence at will and in the 80th minute they scored another through Muhammad Fiq Mat Isa.
A dejected David McCreery said after game that everybody must work together as a team if they want to go forward.
"A lot of these players are earning a very good living.
Is it too easy for them here? They have to stand up and be counted, every one of them."
"We have young players coming through and they have to learn and they just can't keep giving away goals stupidly.
"I hope it hurts them as much as it hurts me and team manager Alijus Sipil with their performance," he added.
