Rhinos end pre-season stint with defeat
Sabah FC concluded their pre-season friendly matches with a 1-4 defeat to fellow Super League side KL United FC on Tuesday, with striker Bobby Gonzales scoring for the second successive game for the Rhinos .
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah FC concluded their pre-season friendly matches with a 1-4 defeat to fellow Super League side KL United FC on Tuesday.
Striker Bobby Gonzales scored for the second successive game for the Rhinos but it was no more than a consolation as KL United FC foreign imports made the difference at the Cheras Stadium.
Sabah were already trailing by three goals when Bobby scored, with Dominique Da Silva netting the opener after 17 minutes of play.
A couple of goals from Paulo Josue - the first from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute followed by his second of the night on 46th minutes - extended KL United lead.
There was no stopping KL
United FC despite Bobby reducing the deficit on the 49th minute, Romel Morales made it 4-1 with the second penalty of the game in the 69th minute.
With that, Sabah ended their preseason matches with a draw and a defeat having drawn with Sarawak United 1-1 on Sunday.
Head coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto was disappointed with the defeat but he was quick to stress that result was not the priority at this stage of the season.
“Frankly the outcome was not satisfactory because we lost but this is a pre-season game...we have our targets but victory is not the top priority.
“Instead, we are looking to build the players match fitness and also the team combination where most of the players (we brought) were locals.
“Overall, I'm still happy because the players did not give up. The players tried their best effort and showed fighting spirit in the (second) game. It is a positive point on the part of the team,” he said after the match.
Kurniawan went on to explain that fatigue may have contributed to the defeat especially when the team have done well in the first game.
“For the first game, we are very happy because the team did well to play according to the game plan.
“In the second game, we played well in the last 15 minutes of the first half and continued inside the first 10 minutes of the second half.
“Clearly this has got something to do with their match fitness. Playing two games in three days is not an easy task because the recovery period is not enough...you can see that their fitness level have dropped in the second game.
“When the players are not in the best fitness condition, it will affect their concentration and also their decision making and in the game, we made mistakes that led to the goals.
“As the trainer of the team, it is my responsibility to make the team better. We have taken notes of the things needed to be improved and we will do so when we return to training,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kurniawan expressed high hope that the four foreign imports would be able to join the team as quickly as possible as they continued their pre-season training.
They are Gabon international midfielder Levy Clement Madinda, Liberian team captain and striker
Sam Johnson, North Macedonian defender Risto Mitrevski and Indonesian international winger Saddil Ramdani.
“We hope they will be here before the first game (of the Super League) so that they will have have time to train with the team before the season starts.
“If not, we may have to come up with Plan B if they are not able to do so. We need to look at their fitness level and also for them to understand our game plan,” said Kurniawan.
For the record, only South Korean defender Park Tae Su who was retained for the season was with the travelling squad for the pre-season friendly matches.
Sabah will open their Super League campaign away to Malacca United at the Hang Jebat Stadium on March 6.