Olusegun impresses Selangor in debut
IFEDAYO Olusegun marked his debut for Selangor with a hattrick as the former champions defeated Kedah 3-1 in Wednesday’s Super League match at the Shah Alam Stadium.
The Nigerian striker, a midseason signing, netted in the 34th, 44th and 57th minutes while Kedah replied through Jonatan Bauman in the 64th minute.
Olusegun is a replacement for Spaniard Rufino Segovia who is recovering from an ankle injury.
“It is a great start to my campaign with Selangor. Everyone played well for this win,” said Olusegun in an interview with the Malaysia Football League.
The 28-year-old attributed his hat-trick to Sandra Mendonca and Syahmi Safari along with other players in the team.
“Selangor have players with talent. I just have to fit myself into scoring positions for supplies from these players.
“I want to win trophies here,” Olusegun added.
With the win, Selangor, with 21 points, moved to third in the standings, replacing Kedah, just four points behind secondplaced Pahang.
Selangor coach B. Sathianathan said: “We were dominant in the first half but allowed Kedah to dictate the pace in the middle of the park after the breather.
“It is something we need to work on in terms of understanding. Our midfielders need to push higher during matches.
“We could have buried them with another two or three goals,” said the former coach.
Felda United coach Nidzam Jamil criticised his team for the 6-0 thrashing by Melaka at the Hang Jebat Stadium, also on Wednesday.
Luka Milunovic was Melaka’s toast with a hat-trick in the 36th, 53rd and 90th minutes while Patrick Reichelt (fourth), Safiq Rahim (25th) and Nazrin Nawi (35th) netted the other goals.
“Melaka should have won by a bigger margin... maybe by nine goals. We were lucky not to suffer a bigger defeat,” said Nidzam.
Melaka coach Zainal Abidin Hassan hopes his team will gain confidence from their resounding win over Felda.
“We need to forget about this result, and return to the training ground to prepare for our next match,” said Zainal.
Felda are now bottom of the table with only eight points while Melaka are fifth with 19 points.