Hoping for better days
PJ City’s Christie stays positive as the action begins
The M-League season restarts next Friday. But Petaling Jaya City begin their Super League campaign against Terengganu today, with City winger D. Christie Jayaseelan hoping for a better days now.
The nippy flanker, who turned 34 on Tuesday, joined the Pheonix in January but missed their three opening games due to a hamstring injury before the season was suspended.
Christie, who featured in the PJ City’s friendly wins – 6-1 against the national Under-19 team and 3-0 against Premier League side Kuala Lumpur – said the long lay-off has only whetted his appetite for action on the pitch.
“I missed the opening three matches and was already quite disappointed and then the movement control order (MCO) came ... the long layoff was difficult but, on hindsight, it gave me time make a complete recovery from my injury,” said the Kajang local.
“The whole team started from scratch once we were allowed to train two months ago ... it was tough but since I was injury free I could push myself hard in training. I consider it as our second pre-season and we handled it better compared to the earlier pre-season.”
“We had some good performance in our friendly matches, we won with big scorelines and I scored a goal too. I’m ready for the season and I hope I can contribute to the team’s target of finishing top four.”
The Phoenix are currently 10th in the 12-team standings with four points from three matches, with a game in hand.
Tha game will be played tonight against Terengganu. It was initially scheduled for March 14 but PJ City’s home ground, the Petaling Jaya Stadium, was not ready due to renovation and the team were fined RM30,000.
A win tonight will see PJ City rise to third in the league with seven points, behind only Johor Darul Ta’zim and Perak.
The stadium in Kelana Jaya is now ready, they have been having their training on the pitch and Christie believes they will have a slight home advantage.
He added that the Turtles will not be easy opponents as they have several good players in Sanjar Shaakhmedov, Lee Tuck and Faiz Nasir.
“I believe it will be a 50-50 game ... there are only seven matches to play in the season so everyone will be very cautious and take a safety first approach. There are also concerns about playing matches in a short period of time as well,” said Christie.
“But for us, we are playing at home and we want to restart the season with a win. We will miss our fans but we are all fired up for it.”