Rhinos hope to shoot down Cops
KOTA KINABALU: Jelius Ating has called for Sabah Rhinos to be more ruthless in front of goal as they look to fashion a victory in the Premier League tie against PDRM at the Likas Stadium here tonight.
The senior team head coach made the remark on the back of the match against Felcra FC on Tuesday, where the Rhinos escaped with a 1-1 outcome despite creating enough chances to win the game.
In fact, they needed a stoppage time penalty save from goalkeeper Robson Rendy Rining to walk away with a point.
“We had three very good chances in the second half (against Felcra) but we lacked the composure to convert them.
“When you don’t score, you don’t win games...that’s football,” he said here yesterday.
Having said that, Jelius hoped the players have learnt their lesson to be sharper and more alert when they take on the Cops.
Jelius said the aim is to claim all three points especially when it involved a home game.
And on paper, Sabah who opened with a 4-0 win against Terengganu FC II at home last week will be the clear favourites against PDRM, who suffered a 2-6 thrashing by Felda United on Tuesday.
However, the 47-year-old coach warned that Sabah must not take PDRM lightly just because of the thrashing.
“PDRM suffered a huge defeat in the last game and while I believe it will give us the confidence to take them on, on the other hand we have to be extra careful too.
“I believe they would want to bounce back and that will make them evenmore dangerous.
“That is why we we cannot underestimate any teams. Like Felcra in the last game, they made things hard for us despite being new in the league.
“What we can do is to prepare our team to the best of our ability...we have to be ready all the time to face the challenges in the league,” said Jelius.
“The aim is to win our home games including against PDRM. We need to take advantage of playing at home while we must avoid defeat on the travel.
“The most important thing is that I want consistency in the team in order to have a good campaign,” he added.
For the game tonight, the former defence stalwart is expected to field the same starting line-up for the third straight game.
That would mean Robson will continue in goal and supported by the four-man defence of captain Rawilson Batuil, Mafry Balang, Randy Baruh and Jenius Karib.
Heo Jaenyeong and Mohd Azzizan Kadir will operate in the middle of the park with Sabri Sahar and Maxsius Musa providing the threats from the flank.
Lee Gil Hoon and Hector ‘Pito’ Ramos will be the front men for Sabah.
“I will have a final look at the players’ condition during training later today (yesterday) but I will most likely name an unchanged line-up,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jelius expressed concern over the accumulation of yellow cards to his preferred central defence partnership of Mafry and Rawilson.
With Igor Cerina continuing his recovery to full fitness while facing an uncertain future with the Rhinos, Jelius lacks cover for the position and he hopes the team’s management could sort things out before the players’ registration closed.
For the record, Sabah will go into tonight’s game as the second ranked team in the 12-team league on four points behind leaders Felda United with a maximum six points.
PDRM, on the other hand, are 10th with only a single point to show from the opening two matches.
The only other league fixtures for today will see MISCMIFA taking on Terengganu FC II.