Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC are still in with a chance for a place in Malaysia Cup final despite losing 0-1 to Johor Darul Ta’zim FC in their semi-final first leg tie at Likas Stadium on Tuesday night.
Datuk Ong Kim Swee believes his players can still overcome the deficit in the return leg away at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on November 20.
“One goal is not a very big gap and it is important for us to focus fully on the next 90 minutes or 120 minutes in the return leg later in Johor and anything can happen,” he said.
He also praised the young players in the team who played their part in helping to deny the visitors to score more.
“The match itself was intense as one expected in a semi-final cup tie and Sabah’s players have displayed very high fighting spirit with the home support and also our final home match of the season.
“Although we played the match without seven to eight of our first choice players, those players on the pitch gave a fighting performance and in the end we lost a bit of focus and conceded one goal.
“Young players like Gerald (Gadit) and Hanafie (Tokyo) also showed that they have a positive attitude and are not afraid to get involved in a huge game like this and this will do them good in the coming season,” he added.
Meanwhile, the match saw goalkeeper Damien Lim steal the show with a number of excellent saves to keep Sabah FC in the game.
He was drawn into action as early as in the third minute with a flying save by tipping a long range effort from Bergson da Silva over the bar.
He also made two crucial ground saves from Arif Aiman in the 14th minute and again from Bergson in the 26th minute.
Sabah FC on the other hand, had their opportunities to find the net through set pieces and Park Tae Su saw his header from a free kick taken by Baddrol Bakhtiar hit the crossbar and Taiki Kagayama’s follow-up header was saved by the JDT keeper in the 18th minute.
The visitors continued to dictate the game at the restart and should have added another in the 59th minute if not for the brilliance of Damien who dived to his right to save a spot kick taken by Bergson.
JDT FC played the last 18 minute with only 10 men following the dismissal of Muhammad Feroz Baharudin with his second yellow card but Sabah FC were unable to find the equaliser with the advantage until the final whistle.
