Rhinos eye KL victory
Sabah are going all out for victory in the Premier League match at the Likas Stadium here tonight.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah are going all out for victory in the Premier League match at the Likas Stadium here tonight.
A staggered start to the season’s second round fixtures that left Sabah players gasping against Negeri Sembilan on Monday paved way for doubts to creep in.
But three points against Kuala Lumpur tonight could set the tone for a potentially awesome run to the Rhinos’s 10 remaining matches to try and win the season.
The return match against Negeri on Monday left Mike Mulvey’s boys stretched having played the same side just four days earlier.
But with fresher legs and renewed spirits, the Englishman’s charges are ready to pour on the style to give Rhinos fans the victory they deserve.
“It is an important game tomorrow against Kuala Lumpur... we played two games in a short period of time but we had more time to recover for this one and the players are in good spirits,” he said when met at the team’s training session, yesterday.
Fitness has been the main issue faced by the team and an inadequate preseason is to blame for any lack of speed and mobility on the field.
A short rest of four days between the recent two matches coupled with the ongoing Ramadhan fasting month had somewhat affected the momentum and rhythm of the players.
“It is something that we have to adapt to particularly that Rahmadan is going on… it is a great demand on players but they are in good spirits and they are coping very well and we are looking forward to the game,” Mulvey said while hoping the fans would come back to support to the team.
“Sabah’s fans are the best I’ve seen in Malaysia but I was surprised to see only a small crowd here on Monday night. Hopefully because it’s the weekend the fans will turn up and give the team support... they are our 12th man and we play to win for them,” he added.
On the team line-up Mulvey said some changes will be made but did not reveal details as he had yet to finalise the team.
“We’ll make a couple of changes because we’ve got to freshen up the team coming into a busy period. I’ve not finalised the team yet but there will be a couple of changes,” he said.
When commenting on the contribution of the import players Mulvey said: “They are definitely contributing to the team’s performance and I think that is indicative of the fact that they’re regularly on the scoresheet or involved in the build-up to the play,” he added.
He is happy to see that they are doing better and more importantly they are integrating with the local players.
“We have good camaraderie, we have good banter which is always important in the dressing room. We also have togetherness which is really important if you want to achieve something. I think all in all I’m quite happy with everybody that we’ve got on board,” he said.
Meanwhile skipper El Hadj Diouf said every match is tough because the Rhinos are being targeted by all the other teams.
“We prepare ourselves to win the game but every game is going to be difficult because this season we look like the target team.
“Everybody knows we play good football and that we are very dedicated. We know how to win games and I think tomorrow is one of the important games we want to win,” said the former Liverpool hitman.
When asked to comment on the 2-2 draw against Negeri on Monday Diouf said it was nothing to be so worried of.
“We can’t say we drop points because we win away games. The team we faced was a very difficult team to play. Today we are top four with only two points adrift from the leaders... we just need to keep going. We have 10 games to play and there is nothing to get worried about because we believe in ourselves and we know where we want to go,” he said.
“Against KL I remember only about the Merdeka stadium,” Diuof said jokingly recalling the appalling condition of the field.
“We respect them, we know they are one of the bottom teams and they come here to do well but it’s all about us...we just need to be ready and it is an important game we want the fans to be here,” he said.