1st LOSE in Likas

Selected Premier League matches, 11 APR 2008
*(-) position before matches

	Home	Score	Away
	Sabah(5)	1-2	Kelantan (3)
		Scorer
42'		0-1	Mouhamadou
72'		0-2	Badri
80'	Bobby	1-2
	Harimau Muda	2-3	Johor(4)

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NO ROOM FOR ANY SLIP-UPS

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah take on Kelantan at the Likas Stadium tonight in a Premier League tie that will have a telling factor on their fading promotion hopes. With only six matches to go (for Sabah), there is little room or rather no place for any more slip-ups from the Rhinos. Rahman Zakaria is fully aware that nothing, but only victory will keep their hopes alive.

“We will be going all out and continue our fight no matter how hard or difficult it is going to be. As long as there is a fighting chance, we will go for it because in football you never know what is going to happen,” the Rhinos’ team manager said.

“Furthermore, this is the time for us to rebound back from our two consecutive defeats,” Rahman said, referring to their 3-2 defeat to Kuala Muda Naza in their last Premier League match and the 3-1 defeat to Pahang in the FA Cup quarterfinals first leg encounter on Tuesday. Sabah, who are currently in fifth on 34 points, will go into the match trailing by 13 points off the league leaders KL Plus FC, who have played a game more, and are 11 points behind second-placed Kuala Muda Naza, who occupy the last promotion slot to the Super League.

Kelantan, who currently sit in third spot, are ahead by seven points, but have played a game more, while fourth-placed Johor Pasir Gudang are two points ahead of them.

Rahman hopes the players will not be demoralised by the two defeats, and said that they need to be a little patient. “What is important for us now is to make a quick rebound from these defeats in order to instill confidence and morale in the team. “There are another six matches to go and we must not waste the opportunity,” Rahman said.

For tonight’s game, Sabah will welcome back defender Ahmad Tharmini Saiban from suspension, while Englishman Jamie Phoenix, who missed the Rhinos’ last two matches through injury, is also expected to feature in the first team.

The rest of the players, including Georgian striker Kokhrei Dze Irakli, will be available for options. However, skipper Rosdin Wasli is still recuperating from a long-term injury.

And with both the top two teams facing rather easy opponents, there is little chance for Sabah or Kelantan to close the gap on the top teams. However, a victory for Sabah could see them close the gap on Kelantan and they could also pip Johor Pasir Gudang from the fourth spot if the southern team fail to collect points from their encounter against the young Harimau Muda side.

KL Plus face lowly Melaka in an away battle at the Hang Tuah Stadium, while Kuala Muda Naza will take on Shahzan Muda, also away, at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan.

The other Premier League matches tonight will see Felda United taking on Selangor PKNS at the Kuala Lumpur Football Association Stadium in Cheras, while Armed Forces entertain Kuala Lumpur at the MP Selayang Stadium.

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GOALSCORERS 2007/08

#	Scorers	League	FA Cup	M Cup	Total
1	Andre Scotti	12	1	-	13
2	Bobby Gonzalez	10	-	3	13
3	Sylvester Sindih	7	1	4	12
4	Kokhrei Dze Irakli	2	3	-	5
5	Jamie Phoenix	4	-	-	4
6	Wong Sai Kong	3	-	1	4
7	David Njuko	-	-	4	4
8	Nafuzi Zain	2	-	-	2
9	Chow Chee Weng	2	-	-	2
10	Dragic Dalibor	2	-	-	2
11	Hishamuddin Othman	1	-	1	2
12	Zainizam Marjan	1	-	1	2
13	Zuraindey Jumai	1	-	-	1
14	Zulamri Mohamad	1	-	-	1
15	Md Radzi Hussin	-	-	1	1
#	Total	48	5	14	67

last updated: 15 Jul 08

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SUPER LEAGUE vs PREMIER LEAGUE

KOTA KINABALU: It will be the case of “Super League versus Premier League” when the FA Cup quarterfinals take centre stage in four venues tonight. With the exception of the Melaka versus reigning champions Kedah tie, the remaining three fixtures would see three Super League teams pitted against their Premier League counterparts.

Interestingly, the three Super League outfits – Selangor, Terengganu and Pahang – have six FA Cup titles between them with the Red Giants winning it a record four times, while both Pahang and Terengganu won the Cup once since its interception in 1990.

Sabah are the only team to have won the Cup from the Premier League sides that have made it to the last eight. Besides lifting the crown, Sabah or the Rhinos as they are fondly known as also have three runners-up medals under their belt. Ironically, tonight, the Rhinos will be taking on Pahang – the team they beat 3-1 to lift the crown for the first time ever in 1995 after two failed attempts earlier on – (1993 and 1994 – lost to Kuala Lumpur on both occasions 2-1 and 3-1).

In 1998, Sabah also made it into the final, but Johor shattered their dream of creating history by winning the crown on home soil – they were beaten 1-0 by the visitors at the Likas Stadium. “We are only two steps away from making it to our fifth final. This is our best chance to move on in the competition. I hope the players will not waste the opportunity,” said the Rhinos’ team manager Rahman Zakaria yesterday. “I believe our chief coach Drago Mamic and his coaching staff have a winning strategy for the clash. At the same time, Rahman wants the team to temporarily forget for the moment about what is happening in the Premier League.

“Let us switch our focus on this competition. This is a different ball game, and we must try to gain as much advantage for the return leg. We have our supporters waiting for us, and a good result would surely give us the edge for the return leg,” Rahman said. Sabah marched into the last eight after notching a 4-3 aggregate win over Police, while Pahang booked their quarterfinal ticket by defeating Premier League leaders 2-0 on aggregate.

In the other quarters, Selangor will take on Kuala Muda Naza. Ironically, both teams are sitting in second place in the Super League and Premier League respectively.

The other match will see Terengganu take on Felda United with the odds on Terengganu to march on. The return leg of the quarterfinals will be played on August 22.

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SABAH LOST! and go Down to 5th

Selected Premier League matches, 4 Apr 2008
*(-) position after matches

	Home	Score	Away
	Kuala Muda(2)	3-2	Sabah(5)
		Scorer
15'	Sairozi	1-0
23'	Njokg	2-0
32'		2-1	Jamie
35'	Njokg	3-1
74'		3-2	Wong
	Johor(4)	2-1	ATM
	Kelantan(3)	4-1	Harimau Muda
	KL Plus(1)	4-0	Shahzan Muda

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DEFENCE DILEMMA

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is faced with a defence dilemma as they go on the road again to take on second-placed Kuala Muda Naza in a must-win battle in a Premier League tie at the Darul Aman Stadium tonight. They will be without Bosnia-Herzegovina central defender Dragic Dalibor, while his partner Ahmad Tharmini Saiban is also doubtful. Dragic is serving his automatic one-match suspension after collecting his third yellow card in the two-all draw against KL Plus FC, while Tharmini was substituted at the half-hour mark due to an injury in the same match.

With Dragic out and Tharmini doubtful, there is no regular central defender left in the team. Skipper Rosdin Wasli, who used to be utilised in central defence in the absence of any of the two, is still recuperating from injury, thus giving the Rhinos’ chief coach Drago Mamic to tinker on his replacement. However, Tharmini was part of the squad that left for Alor Star yesterday, while the return of tough tackling left-back Mohd Munir Amran from suspension is a big relief to the team.

The lanky Munir could be the man that Drago will count on to marshal the Rhinos’ backline alongside Wong Sai Kong or possibly Henry Parsi. He could also drop playmaker Mohd Nafuzi Zain to play in defence or bank on the inexperienced Hardy Charles Parsi.

Another player who made the trip to Kedah is Englishman Jamie Phoenix, who missed the Rhinos’ last game due to injury. New signing Georgian striker Kokhrei Dze Irakli is also in the team. The rest of the players are available for options. “We have to face the reality that this is a game that we cannot afford to lose if we want to keep our promotion hopes alive. “We are in a position where we cannot even afford to end our remaining games in draws, including this tie (against Kuala Muda Naza). “At the moment we are facing what could be described as a do-or-die battle … and it will be the same for the remaining of our fixtures,” the Rhinos’ team manager Rahman Zakaria said.

“It was quite a knock after the draw against KL Plus. But then again I think we are pretty much in the race for promotion. There are another six games left to play … and football is a funny old game and things can happen. “From now on, consistency will be the key to which teams will finish in the top two or three spots at the end of the season. “I firmly believe that teams that show consistency until the final fixtures of the league will have the last laugh,” Rahman said. The Rhinos will be going into the game with an unbeaten record of nine games in the league. Their last defeat in the league competition was the 1-0 home loss to PKNS on January 28.

However, in all competitions, they lost 2-1 to Police in the FA Cup second round, first leg tie late last month. However, they managed to redeem their pride by booking a place in the quarterfinals after notching a 4-3 aggregate victory following their second leg 3-1 victory over the same team. Sabah currently occupy fourth spot in the standings on 34 points – 10 points behind leaders KL Plus. Kuala Muda Naza are two points behind the leaders, while Kelantan on 38 points are third. But both KL Plus and Kelantan have played a game more than Kuala Muda Naza and Sabah.

SABAH SQUAD THAT LEFT FOR ALOR STAR YESTERDAY

Irwan Jamil, Wong Sai Kong, Hardy Charles Parsi, Ahmad Tharmini Saiban, Kokhrei Dze Irakli, Hisamuddin Othman, Zuraindey Jumai, Jamie Phoenix, Zulamri Muhammad, Mohd Munir Amran, Mohd Nafuzi Zain, Chow Chee Wing, Eddie Gapil, Salvester Sindeh, Henry Parsi, Zainizam Marjan, Harold John, Bobby Gonzales, Mohd Radzi Hussin

TONIGHT’S FIXTURES

Kuala Muda NAZA vs Sabah (Darul Aman Stadium – 8.45pm) KL Plus FC vs Shahzan Muda (MP Selayang Stadium – 8.45pm) PKNS FC vs Melaka (MBPJ Stadium – 8.45pm) Kuala Lumpur vs Proton FC (KLFA Stadium – 8.45pm) Johor PG vs Armed Forces (Tan Sri Dato’ Hj Hassan Yunos Stadium – 8.45pm) Kelantan vs Harimau Muda (Sultan Mohd IV Stadium – 8.45pm)

PREMIER LEAGUE STANDINGS

P W D L F A GD PTS KL Plus FC 18 14 2 2 41 15 26 44 Kuala Muda NAZA 17 14 0 3 35 19 16 42 Kelantan 18 11 5 2 44 24 20 38 Sabah 17 10 4 3 33 17 16 34 Johor Pasir Gudang 17 10 3 4 31 16 15 33 Felda United FC 18 6 4 8 22 24 -2 22 Harimau Muda 18 6 3 9 22 25 -3 21 Shahzan Muda 17 5 3 9 21 34 -13 18 PKNS FC 18 4 5 9 21 28 -7 17 Melaka 17 5 2 10 20 29 -9 17 Kuala Lumpur 17 3 5 9 21 29 -8 14 Proton FC 18 4 2 12 19 43 -24 14 Armed Forces 18 3 0 15 22 49 -27 9

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IS IT WORTH IT?

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is seeking fairness from the men in black as their promotion quest took a slight knock following the two-all draw with leaders KL Plus on Sunday.

They are also urging the FA of Malaysia to seriously look into the low standard of refereeing, which is rampant in the Premier League. Rahman Zakaria in expressing his dissatisfaction towards the standard of refereeing in the League said that they have been the victims of biased and one-sided refereeing far too many times, and they have had enough of it.

The Rhinos’ team manager said if the matter is left unattended, it may force them to think of the unthinkable. He said they have no intention to threaten anyone, but if this thing keeps haunting them, there is no point of competing. “We have been spending millions of ringgit and if we are not fairly treated, we might as well give it a serious thought … whether it is worth to compete in the M-League,” said Rahman.

“We respect FAM and we are not against the FAM. We have been very supportive as far as we can remember. However, as the parent body of football in the country, they need to look into this matter seriously.

“This is not only happening now, but it has been dragging on for years. And we have suffered enough! “We must try to find ways to put this to an end because if this continues it would slow down the development of the sport. At the same time, Rahman also urge the referees’ committee to be more sensible when picking the man to take charge of crucial matches.

“For a big game or important game, they must try to consider an experienced referee to officiate the match. “Last night (Sabah versus KL Plus) the referee was third class. He was not up to the mark. And to make matters worse, he was penalising our players too easily. “Four of our players received bookings. We are not questioning the referee’s decision to book Dragic (Dalibor – unsporting behaviour) or Mohd Nafuzi Zain (tackle from behind), but I don’t know why Salvester Sindeh and Eddie Gapil were shown the yellow card.

“If the duo deserved yellow cards for what they have done, then I think the referee should have shown yellow cards to a few more KL Plus players, who committed far more serious fouls.

“In this case, if reflects the biasness of the referee who intentionally tried to find fault with our players. Rahman said it’s not that they cannot accept defeat, but the action of the referees demoralises the Rhinos, and indirectly affects their chances of winning. Rahman then went on to suggest that FAM consider bringing in neutral referees from outside the country. “That is just one of the things that we could do to sort out this problem,” said Rahman.

After Sunday’s game, the one point gained helped Sabah to claim the fourth spot on 34 points – 10 points behind the leaders – KL Plus, who have played one game more.

Kuala Muda Naza are second on 42 points, followed by Kelantan on 38.

Sabah’s next game is an away battle against Kuala Muda Naza on April 4.

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