Rhinos remain unbeaten
Sabah Rhinos drew 1-1 with MISC-MIFA in a drenched and muddy pitch at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium, on Monday.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Rhinos drew 1-1 with MISC-MIFA in a drenched and muddy pitch at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium, on Monday.
Head coach Jelius Ating said the team never trained in such pitch conditions before and that he had to hurl out the tactics spontaneously.
Heavy rain delayed the Premier League match by about 35 minutes from the scheduled kick-off time.
“The pitch with pools of water meant we were unable to do low ground passes as we did before.
“We had to go with long crosses and that didn't help very much. But I'm grateful that we did not lose, at least we took one point away from the opponent,” Jelius said when contacted Tuesday.
In the match, Sabah led 1-0 thanks to main striker Hector Omar Ramos Lebron. Hector, or better known as Pito among his team-mates, netted the ball in the 15th minute.
But Thinagaran Baskeran struck the equaliser in the 30th minute and the home side under K Devan held on until the end.
“Our main goal is to win the full points but we have to be satisfied with just one, especially when our opponent began adapting to the field conditions in the second half.
“We wanted victory but the good thing is we maintained our unbeaten record,” Jelius said.
Sabah regained second place, climbing one spot from third, now on nine points from five matches with two wins and no losses yet.
Felda are still at the top with five wins on maximum points (15), while UiTM FC are third with also nine points like Sabah. However, Sabah is ahead of UiTM FC by virtue of better goal difference.
Sarawak with eight points are fourth in the 12-team standings while Felcra and MISC-MIFA are each on seven points and complete the top six teams in the competition so far.
Meanwhile, Jelius said the squad would continue to practise before taking a three-day break next week.
The next Sabah match is on March 30 against UiTM FC at the Likas Stadium.