Jelius laments poor first half
Published on: Monday, August 19, 2019
By: GL Oh
KOTA KINABALU: Head coach Jelius Ating (pic) was not too pleased with his team’s performance in the first half, after Sabah Tambadaus were beaten 1-2 by Pahang in the Group A Malaysia Cup tie at Likas Stadium on Saturday night.
They allowed Pahang to score two goals in the opening 35 minutes, with the first coming as early as in the second minute which saw his boys struggle in chasing the game for the rest of the night.
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The goal from Aguinaldo Mendes in the 54th minute gave them some hope of getting at least a draw from the match, but it did not materialise as they were unable to break down the well organised Pahang defence.
“We are definitely not happy with our first half performance. I think the players had too much respect for their opponents at the start.
“Pahang finished second in the just concluded Super League and also had beaten Perak 3-0 in their last Cup match, so that may have got into the players’ head,” he said after the match.
According to him, he tried his best to motivate the players at half time, and managed to get the message across.
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“I tried to motivate them during the break, and the players responded well and they played much better in the second half.
“Apart from showing what they are capable of, it also showed their inexperience against a well organised team.
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“We have mostly young players who are still improving and I hope the experience from the match will be a good lesson for them.
“Even though we lost the match, I have to give credit to the players with their second half performance, which had given Pahang a tough time.”
He admitted the latest loss has put them in a more difficult position to progress past the group stage.
“For me, it is difficult for us to progress further after losing the third match, but we have to think ahead, because it is not just qualifying for the quarterfinals, but to maintain the creditability of the team and the players must also continue to give their best with the remaining three matches,” he added.
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