Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC were beaten by PDRM FC 0-1 in the Super League match played at Selayang Municipal Council Stadium on Saturday.
A late goal scored by Ifedayo Olusegun in the 80th minute denied Sabah FC at least a point in an evenly matched tie played in the afternoon.
Sabah FC had a better start and Daniel Ting could have scored in the fifth minute but was unable to find the target with his header from close range.
Both goalkeepers were called into action in the frantic opening 45 minutes.
Damien Lim in his second start of the season in goal produced a good block to deny PDRM FC’s Bruno Suzuki’s powerful strike in the 26th minute, while Damien’s opposite number Bryan See also got down well to make a save from a Jafri Chew’s grounder six minutes later.
João Pedro narrowly missed a chance to put Sabah FC ahead in the 39th minute when he was not quick enough to make contact with a cross delivered by Jafri with Bryan well beaten.
It was more end to end stuff in the second half with several missed opportunities by both teams until Ifedayo’s winning goal.
Stuart Wilkin almost snatched an equaliser in injury time when his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by PDRM FC’s captain Faith Friday Obilor with his head.
Rhinos head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said after the game that they only have themselves to blame for the loss.
“We must blame ourselves because we failed to convert many scoring opportunities while PDRM showed a strong desire and defended well after scoring the first goal.
“We should never underestimate a small team. What was achieved in the previous match cannot really be taken into account.
“In fact, we can’t assume that all teams are easy to beat to secure a win, even with star players,” he said.
Meanwhile, the fourth league loss saw Sabah FC dropped one place to fifth in the table standing below Kuching City FC who also have 14 points but a better goal difference.
The next game scheduled for Sabah FC is another away tie against seventh placed Perak FC at the Manjung Mini Stadium in Lumut on October 19.
