Rhinos make victorious return to Super League
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah FC marked their return to Super League action with a 4-2 win over Penang FC at the City Stadium on Tuesday.
Team captain Baddrol Bakhtiar grabbed a brace - his second a breathtaking acrobatic effort - while Jackson de Souza and Stuart Wilkin were also on the scoresheet as the Rhinos moved into second place in the league.
Penang FC who were a threat all night for the Rhinos replied through T. Saravanan and Hilal El-Helwe.
“I’ve never expected we would have ended the game with four goals. It showed that the players are in a very good condition.
“Mentally because the players bounced back after Penang had equalised ... the team’s confidence grew after that,” said head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee.
Kim Swee was particularly worried early on as Penang FC got off to a positive start and could have gone two up inside 15 minutes of play if not for good goalkeeping from the Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.
Baddrol however had other ideas as he showed the predatory instinct of a striker to head home a Saddil Ramdani’s cross from the right in the 22nd minute.
To Penang FC’s credit, they put on a brave performance after going behind and it continued into the second half which resulted in the equaliser from Saravanan, who tapped home at the far post in the 52nd minute.
The goal seemed to have woken up the Rhinos and Jackson restored Sabah’s lead six minutes later when the Brazilian central defender flicked another of Saddil’s cross from the flank which looped into the back of the net.
There was no stopping for the Rhinos from then on as Baddrol made it 3-1 after 61 minutes of play where after winning an aerial battle inside the box, the midfielder executed a perfect overhead kick.
Fellow midfielder Stuart Wilkin made the points safe with the fourth goal in the 66th minute when he tapped home the ball from close range after Neto Pessoa’s initial effort was cleared on the line.
El-Helwe l scored a second for Penang in the 76th minute but the Rhinos held on for their fifth win in seven league matches.
“It was a game where a goal could have changed the whole match outcome. I agreed Penang did have two or three great chances before we opened the scoring on the night.
“However, we failed to play the way we should have done after that and Penang took advantage to equalise.
“It was only after they had equalised that we regained our rhythm ... it had a huge impact in such a game.
“That is why I believed whichever teams that managed to take their chances well and score will have huge advantage in the match,” said Kim Swee.
Meanwhile, Kim Swee was full of praise of the players after securing a second successive hard-earned win.
The Rhinos were forced to play 120 minutes of football in the 2-1 victory over Kelantan United FC in the FA Cup over the weekend, which Kim Swee said forced him to make some changes to the squad against Penang.
It included Baddrol who was deployed further up the pitch to his usual position as the chief playmaker at the centre of the pitch.
“Baddrol is a player with much experience and he played well in a different position (against Penang). We played into the extra time in our last outing in the FA Cup and fatigue among the players was among the issue taken into consideration.
“However, majority of the players did well and showed good fitness level,” he said.
With the win, Sabah moved into second place in the standing levelled on 15 points with current league leaders Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) and third placed Negeri Sembilan FC.
JDT have played two games less than Sabah’s seven while Negeri Sembilan have already completed eight rounds of league matches.
Sabah’s next league fixture is against Sri Pahang FC at the Likas Stadium on June 18.
It was a game where a goal could have changed the whole match outcome.
Datuk Ong Kim Swee