Cops won’t freeze yet as there’s still hope to escape drop zone

PETALING JAYA: A better-than-average second half display against Kedah in the Super League last week has given Police coach Mohd Ishak Kunju a glimmer of hope in steering his depleted side away from relegation.

The men in blue fell 0-2 to Kedah at the Cheras Football Stadium last week and now have six more matches to save themselves from the drop.

Their winless run in the Covid-19 disrupted league saw them docked three points by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for failing to settle their players’ salary.

And relegation looks imminent as they are bottom of the 12-team Super League table with a deficit of two points after five games.

They have six matches to make amends and will have to make do without first-choice goalkeeper Bryan See due to a hamstring injury.

They have also axed Grenadian striker Antonio German who has gone AWOL.

The team’s glaring weakness comes from the individual mistakes and this was evident in the first half against Kedah when they conceded the two goals.

“We’re making costly individual mistakes especially in the game against Kedah where we gave away two soft goals in the first half.

“Once we rectify this, I’m sure we can move away from the bottom of the table,” said Ishak.

“Willfred (Jabun) is our second-choice goalkeeper who came in for the injured Bryan and he actually played quite well and prevented a few sure goals.

“I want to see the players play like they did in the second half as the centrebacks were more competitive and challenged for almost every ball.”

Ishak said another sore point was their lack of a focal point in their attacks which is now dependent on local players.

“The teams in the Super League rely on import strikers who can hold the ball to allow other attackers to join in during offensive moves but we don’t have that luxury,” said Ishak.

“We had Khaizuran Putera and Hidhir Idris making their debuts. They did quite well in our friendlies but playing in the league is different.

“They were under pressure and they are not used to it yet ... if we had a foreign striker it would have been different.”