By: GL Oh
KOTA KINABALU: The State President Cup squad bounced back from their 2-4 heavy defeat at JDT IV last week to beat PJ City FC 2-0 in the group A President Cup competition at Likas Stadium Monday afternoon. Assistant coach Johnny Dominicus was put in charge of the team with the absence of Justin Ganai who was rested following the accidental clash of head with Kevin Pengiran during training on Sunday.
The players who managed a draw with table topper Selangor in their last home match again showed that they can play well in front of the home fans as they took an early lead in the 12th minutes with a strike by captain Aidil Safee following a goal mouth melee. However, the defence who let in six goals in the last two games was still a bit shaky.
They almost conceded an equaliser in the first half as they were caught by their offside trap and luckily the PJ City player blasted the ball high instead. It was an even match for both teams but the players were unable to penetrate each other’s defence until Ariusdiua Jais was fouled inside the box and Zulkifly Harun made no mistake from the spot to put Sabah 2-0 up in the 70th minutes until the final whistle.
The defeat was also PJ City FC’s first of the season after eight matches while the win was Sabah’s third in eight matches. Assistant team manager Jainin Tinin who was on the bench was pleased with the players after the game. “It was a very good performance from the players today. I am very satisfied with them because they played as a unit and they can build up the game, and they are not afraid to play.
“Of course there are still some weaknesses such as their marking was a bit off, For example in the first half, the players just waited for the offside flag and they were lucky the player who broke free shot high, otherwise we could be in trouble with the score at 1-1,” said the former state player. Following the result, Sabah now have three wins, all from home games and two draw and three losses with 11 points. They will next take on Selangor United away on April 29.
