Serbian pledges best to help Rhinos bounce back
KOTA KINABALU: Rodoljub Paunovic will make his much anticipated second Premier League debut with Sabah when they take on UiTM FC at the Shah Alam Stadium tonight.
The Serbian forward is into his second spell with the Rhinos after agreeing to a one-year deal during the recent transfer window.
And he is itching for action as he pledged his best to help Sabah bounce back from their current slump in form.
“I could not wait to be playing in the same pitch with the likes of Azzizan Nordin, Rawilson (Batuil) as well as the others.
“I will work hard for the team,” said Paunovic yesterday as he thanked head coach Jelius Ating and team manager Datuk Juil Nuatin for their faith in him.
Paunovic is best remembered for his successful stint with Sabah last season where his six goals in nine league appearances helped the then struggling Sabah finished in mid-table, thus evading the drop to the FAM Cup.
The 32-year-old will be facing almost the same scenario this time around as the out-of-form Rhinos are in danger of being sucked further down the table after failing to register a single win in their last seven matches.
Sabah are fifth in the table on 15 points but three other teams including UiTM have also bagged the same amount of points from 13 matches played.
The other two are UKM FC, who had played one-game more, and Sarawak so the Rhinos just could not afford to drop points.
“I’ve been following the team’s progress in the current season and Sabah had a good start to the campaign but not so good towards the end of the first round.
“I hope we will be able to put things right and get the team back on track starting (with a positive result) against UiTM.
“Our opponents are strong but I believe we are stronger...I hope we will return with the three points,” he added.
In fact, Paunovic had fond memory of playing against UiTM where it was against the clubside that he scored his first goal in his first stint for Sabah last year. And it turned out to be the crucial winner too.
However, he stressed that the most important thing would be to help Sabah get the desired result regardless of the scorers.
Meanwhile, Sabah will be without midfield general Azzizan through suspension while Jenius Karib and Justin Samaan too remained at home due to injuries.
Highly talented Sabri Sahar, who was sorely missed in the 13 home defeat to UKM FC last Saturday, will be back though to provide creativity to the side.
The full travelling squad are Maxsius Musa, Randy Baruh, Robson Rendy Rining, Rahman Shah Marajeh, Dendy Lowa, Evan Wensley Wenceslaus, Ricco Nigel Milus, Ummareng Bacok, Hamran Peter, Rawilson, Sabri, Mafry Balang, Melky Balang, Francis Kasonde, Hector Ramos, Keisuke Ogawa and Paunovic.
For the record, Sabah defeated UiTM 3-1 in their first round meeting on April 10 here where Maxsius, Sabri and former foreign import Heo Jaenyeong were the scorers.
It was also the last time Sabah tasted victory in the league before going on a seven-match winless run that included four losses and three draws.