Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Premier League players must put the disappointment of Friday's 2-3 loss to Kedah behind them and focus completely on their match against UiTM today (Monday) at the Likas Stadium.
They had a reasonable good game especially in the second half against Kedah and were on course for a point but unfortunately the match officials had another say.
On another day they may even have come back with full points and the players must accept the outcome and take heart from the positives and try to continue where they had left off in today's match.
The arrival of French import Abdelfatah Safi seemed to add more bite in the team's attack and it also helped to ease the pressure off Koh Traore with his well taken goals in the last two matches.
Nobody would bet against the pair to deliver the goals again today but to get a good result, the coaches will have to sort out their leaky defence.
The defence has always been the main problem for the team this season as time and again they allowed their opponents to have easy access at goal and as a result put paid to their teammates' efforts in the final third.
With captain Rosdin Wasli retuning to full fitness and available for selection it will be left to be seen whether he will start the game in place of centre back Hardy Charles Parsi despite his lack of match fitness.
The latter who was the first choice since early in the season is beginning to show signs of fatigue in recent games and he may need to take a well deserved rest to recuperate.
The team selection today is likely to maintain the same line-up that started against Kedah with the exception of Hardy.
The other centre back is the rock solid Shahril Faizal Ahmad Shariffuddin with Sharul Azhar Ture as right back and Julamri Mohd on the left.
Mohd Fazilidin Khalid who performed well up to mark as a defensive midfielder in the absence of Rosdin is set to retain his place with Zainizam Marjan as playmaker while the two in-form wingers Alto Linus and Sharudin Yakup are expected to provide crosses to the French speaking pair of Koh Traore and Abdelfatah.
