7-0 stroll was like a training match
Published on: Thursday, November 23, 2023
By: James Wong
Although the match was one-sided, it was a good sweat out for Sabah FC and certainly a good warm-up before they travel to Terengganu to take on the home team on Friday.
Kota Kinabalu: SABAH FC had a stroll in the park when they thrashed Kelantan FC 7-0 in the twice postponed Super league match held at UiTM Stadium on Monday night.
What a scoreline! Although it was not a full strength Sabah FC side as we relied mostly on the reserves for the match, in the end it was just like a training match with one of the local teams.
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Four of the regulars – Darren Lok, Daniel Ting, Dominic Tan and Stuart Wilkin – were not available for the match as they were away with the national team in Taipei and even captain Park Taesu was not in the starting line-up.
Nonetheless, this did not deter the team and after a frustrating 25 minutes with several missed chances, we were awarded a penalty which Jafry Chew scored with ease from the spot.
That goal ended the resistance from the home players and helped to open the floodgates from then on, and in the 29th minute, Farhan Roslan stabbed home a spill from the Kelantan FC goalkeeper.
Then in the 39th minute, Rizal Ghazali made it 3-0 with a fine solo effort for Sabah FC to take a three-goal lead at the interval.
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Unfortunately for the home side, the restart was another round of goals galore with Irfan Faizal scoring the fourth from a long range shot in the 56th minute.
Telmo Castanheira then added the fifth goal in the 68th minute with a simple tap in and within two minutes, Ramon Machado made a fine solo run on the left to score the sixth goal.
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S. Kumaahran then wrapped up the match in the 89th minute with a header at the far post to make up for his early miss from an open goal.
Although the match was one-sided, it was a good sweat out for Sabah FC and certainly a good warm-up before they travel to Terengganu to take on the home team on Friday.
That match will be a stern test for Sabah FC. Hopefully the regulars missing on Monday will return unscratched from the Taipei trip to rejoin the team.
With only three more matches to play, it is always good to have more options with them at least on the bench for the tie.
Congratulations to Sabah FC again for the big win against Kelantan FC.
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