Kota Kinabalu: 21/12: Sabah FC began life after the departure of Jean Paul de Marigny as head coach with a 1-3 loss to DPMM FC at Likas Stadium, Saturday evening.
It was a reversal of result, having beaten the same team in pre-season at the same venue back in July, but both Daniel Ting and Miguel Cifuentes who scored the goals in the win were unavailable on Saturday.
Advertisement
Sabah FC started well in the early exchanges with Darren Kok seeing his header denied by the goalkeeper Muhd Haimie Abdullah Nyaring in the 7th minute.
However, they were unable to build on the momentum and the visitors took charge soon after and Damien Lim in goal made some good saves to prevent them taking an early lead.
Rawilson Batuil then made a glaring mistake when he sprunt across the field trying to intercept the ball and missed it completely, thus allowing Muhammad Ramadhan Sananta a clear run on goal before putting the ball past the fully exposed Damien for the opener in the 20th minute.
Sabah FC again had a good start in the second half. Dinesh Rajasingam had a chance to equalize but instead headed wide from close range in the 47th minute.
Damien also made a good stop in the 65th minute to deny Jordan Murray. Jafri Chew then missed a sitter at the far post when he shot at the side netting from a cross delivered by Dinesh in the 72nd minute.
The miss proved costly as former Rhino Tommy Mawat extended his team’s lead two minutes later with a ferocious strike outside the box.
Sabah FC were able to reduce the deficit a minute later with a well taken goal by Adjin Majugic from a Stuart Wilkin’s pass.
Fergus Tierney almost found the equalizer in the 83rd minute but was denied by the post and again Sabah FC’s backline was exposed from another counter attack soon after and Azwan Ali Rahman was able to make it three in the 86th minute.
Alto Linus who took over from Marigny for the match lamented the team’s missed chances for the loss.
“It was not the result that we wanted but we have to take into account several aspects such as missing players due to suspensions and fitness issues.
“We took the risk to field some who were not fully fit as well, but credit to all the players who gave a very good fight right to the end. We also had our chances but failed to convert and this is the outcome in football,” he said.
