SABAH FC will face Kelantan The Real Warriors FC in the league match away tonight.
This will not be an easy task and a challenging one, especially after the home side managed a goalless draw against us back in August at the Likas Stadium.
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Furthermore, significant changes have taken place within Sabah FC since then in particular with the exits of head coach Jean-Paul de Marigny and left back Daniel Ting.
Alto Linus, as the man in charge now will have to motivate the players and draw up the right strategy to try to get the three points.
A win would be a good bonus as we have now dropped to 10th placing in the table standings after the draw with Kuala Lumpur (KL) FC in the last match.
We were fortunate to come away with the point because I thought KLFC were slightly better and deserved to win the match.
The game was delayed for almost an hour due to the consistent rain earlier. It didn’t take long for the pitch to become heavy and soggy after the referee had blown the whistle to start the match.
It was extremely difficult for both teams to play their normal game under that condition.
KLFC were able to create more scoring opportunities and had more shots on target but were unable to get past goalkeeper Damien Lim, who has been brilliant lately and made a few crucial saves that kept Sabah FC in the game.
The breakthrough goal from KLFC in the 59th minute was scored by Safawi Rasid from a goalmouth melee, but Sabah FC were able to draw level with Ajdin Mujagic slotting in the equaliser in the 67th minute.
The in-form Ajdin can’t seem to stop scoring lately and our chance of winning against Kelantan The Real Warrior tonight will very much depend on him.
He has shown that he can be deadly with good service from his teammates and the presence of the hard-working Darren Lok will also help to draw away the defenders and create space for him.
Let’s hope the team can get a good result tonight.
On another note, I had watched the highlights of the game between Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) FC and Negeri Sembilan FC, which JDT won with a lone goal margin.
The goal was scored at the very last minute of extra time. What I wanted to highlight here is the officiating standards of that game.
Several incidents really raised eyebrows, with JDT players committing numerous fouls that went unpunished.
I noted that some fouls were so bad that the referee should have shown the red card to the JDT players.
How are we going to improve our football with match officials like this?
We need stricter enforcement of rules, ensuring all players are held to the same standards regardless of their team affiliation.
