Maintain momentum

New Sabah Times

AMONG THE LINE-UP … Zainizam (right), to orchestrate the midfield.

KOTA KINABALU: David McCreery wants his charges to soldier on and try to make the best possible finish to their campaign in the Premier League. The Sabahawks head coach insists, to get the job done, they must be able to get their winning momentum going. Speaking ahead of their tie against Kedah at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar that kicks off at 8:45pm tonight, McCreery said it is the players who will decide where they want to finish at the end of the season.

 He added that by the way things are going in training, things look pretty much positive. However, he pointed out, whatever they have done in training will be pointless if they cannot produce the result. So McCreery said it is important for them to get a desirable result against Kedah, whom they bowed to (0-2) in their first round meeting at the Likas Stadium.

 “I hope the players will put up another good show, like they did in the 4-1 win against NS Betaria FC last week. “We need to carry on with the momentum to try and notch another win tomorrow. We had a good run of six unbeaten matches prior to the defeat to KL Sime Darby late last month.

 “If the players can maintain the attitude and discipline they showed last week then may be we can start a new run … and hopefully we will get more wins this time around.” The rejuvenated Sabahawks, who have had a bad start to their campaign, are currently sixth in the 12-team standings, and only three points behind fourth placed Kedah, who have a game in hand.

 They are level on 21 points with fifth placed Police, who have a better goal difference. However, like Kedah, Police also have one game in hand over Sabahawks and the rest of the teams. For the record, Sabahawks will go into the tie with a record of six wins, three draws and six defeats from 15 matches thus far.

 Kedah on the other hand have won seven games with three draws and four defeats. In their six-match unbeaten run from February to April, Sabah had three away draws to Police (3-3), Sarawak (0-0) and Perlis (1-1) and won two away matches against Johor (3-2) and Perlis (3-2) before the 4-2 away win against KL SPA Putrajaya FC.

 They are a decent side but have yet to find their footing, lacking consistency and conviction as seen throughout the season so far. For tonight’s match McCreery will have all his best players for options, which enables him to name his strongest first team. Shahril Sa’ari will remain his number one ball stopper, while Sharil Faizal and stand-in skipper Hardy Charles Parsi will be the centre-backs with and Shahrul Azhar Ture on the right and Julamri Muhamad left.

 McCreery, who is expected to opt for a 4-5-1 formation, is likely to name Zainizam Marjan, Abdelfatah Safi and Mohd Fazilidin Khalid in the middle of the park, while Shahruddin Yakup on the right of midfield, with Alto Linus on the left, and Koh Traore will be the team’s lone striker. Meanwhile, the State Reserve League team lost to Perak 2-0, in a match at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh, yesterday.