New Sabah Times
By UMESH RAJAN
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Under-19 squad are hoping to end their poor run of results as they face Selangor in the Youth Cup Group B tie at the Penampang Stadium, today at 4.15pm.
The state’s youngest football team are on a four-match losing streak and sit second from bottom in their group with only three points collected from their opening six matches of the season.
Head coach, Billyton Vun Kit Ming hopes that his team are able to improve on their weaknesses, especially their defence which has been exploited thoroughly by opponents so far.
“In our last match against Perak where we were humbled 4-1, the players played well but during certain situations, our defence faltered to their attack at that given moment.
“We gave our all in all of the matches but our opponents have exploited our weaknesses in defence since we have inexperienced defenders.
“I managed to do extensive defensive drills during our training sessions for at least one week and I hope the players will show improvements in tomorrow’s (Wednesday) match,” he said when contacted, yesterday.
Billyton who recently passed his AFC Licence A examination said that he has given some motivational talks to the players where they must change their attitude and perspective towards their career as footballers.
“Players must assume that every match is like a tournament final match where they must play each match at their optimum best week in and week out.
“This is because in the Under-19 stage, players must gain as much experience and knowledge at a rapid pace as it helps their development to be decent state or national player,” he said.
Selangor also lost 1-2 to Perak in their last match on April 3, which the former state player said Sabah have the chance to obtain a positive result.
“Both us and Selangor should be evenly matched which gives the players some playing confidence heading into the match, therefore fingers crossed, if we play our game, we can surely obtain some points,” he added.
