KOTA KINABALU: Sabah head coach Jelius Ating (pic) said all the hard work has paid off for Sabah Tambadaus as they comfortably beat UKM 3-1 in the final match of the first round Premier League tie at Likas Stadium on Saturday. He praised the players for their efforts put in training that they were able to reproduce in the match against UKM.
“The players have been training very hard in every training session and they proved that hard work do pay off as the result clearly showed. “The performance from the players in the match was very good as it was not an easy game for the team. I am very happy with the win because UKM are a very good team.
“They managed to draw level after we had taken a one-goal lead and under normal circumstances, the confidence of the players may have crumbled as a result, but as I said earlier, the hard work put in by the players indicated that they had the belief and it was the main factor that we won the match tonight,” he said after the match on Saturday.
He was also happy the team managed to finish in the top three positions in the table standing at the end of first rounds. “The overall performance of the team in the first round was very good although we were inconsistent in a few matches, we did very well in most matches. “We only lost two matches and had accumulated a total of 18 points which is better than we did last season and if we can improve further in the second round I am sure we can get even more points than we managed in the first round.
“I believe this team can go far and as the head coach, it is my hope to help achieving the target of winning promotion as expected by Safa acting President Datuk Peter Anthony.” Meanwhile, he also thanked the 1,000 odd fans who came to the stadium to support the team. “I would like thank all the fans in the stadium although the numbers may not be great. It could have been caused by the Easter holidays, but nonetheless those in attendance played a big part in our win as well,” he added. – GL Oh
