New Sabah Times
KOTA KINABALU: It may be a little too late to fight for Super League promotion, but if the Sabahawks continue to show progress in their game and get the job done in their remaining fixtures, a top-five finish is still pretty much within their reach.
Even a top-three finish is still possible provided that they can be consistent in producing the results!
For the first time this season, the team has managed to stay unbeaten in three consecutive matches following the 0-0 draw against Sarawak at the Sarawak State Stadium in Kuching on Friday.
Prior to the Borneo Derby clash, they defeated third placed Johor 3-2 at home, and held Police to a three-all draw in an away battle, which seemed to be the start of their revival, after a poor start to their season.
Before the Police, game, they suffered four consecutive defeats, including the embarrassing 0-2 loss to lowly UiTM FC away and the 1-2 home defeat to KL Pos Malaysia FC.
And now, David McCreery can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as his side has started to show their true colours.
When contacted yesterday, the Sabahawks’ head coach said he was satisfied with the performance put up by his charges, insisting that they look like a decent team now.
“They did very well and worked really hard in the game, and could have gone on to win the game.
“Prior to the game, we wanted them to work hard, and they did it. So at least now we have stretched our unbeaten run to three matches,” said McCreery.
“As we all know, this is a new team altogether, and we finally started to play as a team together and I can see that we are getting better from game to game.
“We have been working very hard with the team, and if they continue to show a positive response, we can only get better,” he added.
The Premier League is taking a three-week break or so, and would only resume on March 29 where the Sabahawks will take on Perlis in the last match of the first round away from home.
“We have about three weeks to prepare ourselves for the game against Perlis.
With confidence growing in the team, I’m quite optimistic of getting the result against Perlis,” said McCreery.
The one point gained against Sarawak has pushed the Sabahawks one rung up from eighth to seventh place in the 12-team standings from three wins, two draws and five defeats.
KL Sime Darby FC remain on top of the standings on better goal difference than second-placed Sarawak. Both the top teams are equal on 24 points from seven wins and three draws, and the only two sides that remain unbeaten in the League.
