Kota Kinabalu: Another night of misery. Sabah FC were humiliated in front of their home fans by Melaka FC at the Likas Stadium last Thursday.
We lost 0-3 in the return leg of the round of 16 Malaysia Cup match and bowed out of the competition 2-5 on aggregate.
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I thought we had a good chance to qualify for the quarterfinal after the promising 2-2 draw in the first leg at the Hang Jebat Stadium last week.
The presence of some 2000 supportive fans and the introduction of new signing Ernesto Amantegui Phumipha proved insufficient to lift the team.
I wasn’t expecting much from the Thai Spanish national, as he obviously needs to play a few more games to find his feet.
Sabah FC started the match rather well and had a few chances at goal but unfortunately couldn’t find the target.
The only time we found the net was through Darren Lok, who nodded in a header from a Gabriel Perez cross in the ninth minute.
However, it was subsequently ruled out through a VAR check for offside. Then disaster struck with the sending off of Gary Steven Robbat in the 43rd minute for an unnecessary high tackle on a Melaka player.
The first half break should have given the team time to prepare for the second half, but poor marking four minutes after the restart saw Sabah FC concede the first goal.
Ahmed Ayman Shamsaldin Abdalazem was given too much space to score the opener from a corner kick.
The team seemed to lose its zest after the goal and played with no direction! There was no real threat to Melaka FC who had the game in their hands and waiting to score more goals.
The second goal from Che Rashid Che Halim in the 86th minute and Ayman’s second of the night three minutes later were all due to defensive errors.
Melaka FC thoroughly deserved to qualify for the quarterfinals and if this performance is any indication to our coming games, then we need to be alarmed.
We have two crucial league games next month against big boys JDT FC and Negeri Sembilan FC.
It will be a big test for us. We need to strengthen the squad and I believe we still have at least a week to get reliable new players during the current open window.
Adjin Mujagic is a good player but he could be left isolated without strong support especially with the exit of Stuart Wilkin.
The outlook may look bleak but here is hope versus hope because in football we can never tell the future.
Now we need to get down to reality and try to finish the season in the top half of the table.
