Sabah women felled by Sabah players
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah women settled for second best yet again as MISC-MIFA claimed a 3-2 win in the final of the 29th Tun Sharifah Rodziah Football Tournament yesterday.
Played at the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Sintok mini stadium in Kedah, the state squad had hoped to avenge their defeat at the same stage last year and wrest the crown from MISCMIFA.
But, the Smith M. Ampulingcoached side fell short yet again in the rain-interrupted title match.
Having scored an impressive 32 goals and conceded only once en-route to the final, it took something special in the form of MISC-MIFA, who are strengthened by mostly Sabahan players, to beat the state squad.
Sihaya Ajad scored an eighth minute goal before Haindee Mosroh doubled the lead on 13 minutes to give the defending champions a 2-0 advantage.
Sabah were unperturbed and Shereilyn Elly Pius pulled a goal back on 16 minutes before fellow midfielder Jaciah Jamulis completed a superb fightback to level the game in the 29th minute.
The teams returned for the second half looking for the third goal but it was halted for around 15 minutes due to heavy rain.
When play resumed, the actions continued with scoring chances at either end of the pitch but MISC-MIFA claimed a 76th minute winner.
Dadree Rofinus, like Sihaya and Haindee who are former Sabah players, scored the winning goal in the 76th minute.
The defeat left Sabah women squad with another year to wait to add to their overall tally of 11 national champions title.
"We had enough chances to win the game but failed to convert many of them against a good MISC-MIFA side.
"However I'm proud with the performance and fighting spirit of our team combining young and senior footballers," said Smith who added that playing against MISC-MIFA was like taking on the Sabah senior women's team.
It was learnt that MISCMIFA full squad have 11 Sabah players, including five national footballers.
Meanwhile, MISC-MIFA received further recognition when Dadree went on to pick up the final's 'Best Player' while Haindee won the Top Scorer award with 14 goals.
Meanwhile, Kedah scored through Nurul Ashikin Mohd Jasrie in the 65th minute to beat Sarawak and finished third in the tournament that they hosted.