Nidzam sees red as Fighters fail to put up a struggle
Felda United coach Nidzam Jamil is peeved with his players after they were forced to dig deep to hold relegation battlers Police to a 1-1 draw in their Super League clash.
The Cops took the lead through Eskandar Ismail in the 49th minute before former Singapore international Khairul Amri equalised for Felda through a spot kick in the 71st minute to share the points at the Cheras Football Stadium on Saturday.
Nidzam said they lost their rhythm in the absence of key players – skipper Jasazrin Jamaluddin, Argentinian forward Nicolas Velez and midfielder Fadhil Idrins due to injuries and suspension.
“Both teams had the chance to win but we muffed up. Our game management could have been better,” said Nidzam.
“I’m not satisfied with our performance.
“We expected Police to play the way they did but we didn’t step up our game ... we can’t be relying on certain individuals to keep bailing out the team.
“We did not take our chances well and it’s costly in a game like this ... it seems like we will be in the relegation battle again, same as last year.”
The Fighters are now ninth in the 12-team Super League table with six points from six matches while the Cops remained bottom of the group with a negative one point.
Meanwhile, Police coach Mohd Ishak Kunju Mohd had mixed reaction.
“We got off to a slow start but improved as the game progressed. The boys did well but we did not get the result that we wanted.
“A win would have cancelled our negative point,” said a dejected Ishak.
“But I couldn’t ask anything more from the boys. We only have two imports while most of our players are from the police force.
“We don’t have any special strategies. We are basically the underdogs in all our matches.
“Our next game is against Pahang and they are a good team with good foreign players and a seasoned coach.
“We need to get our act together.”