SABAH FC suffered yet another loss. This time to Johor Darul Ta’zim FC 1-3 in the league match played on Saturday, and it was also our third loss in succession following the two defeats in the FA Cup to Terengganu FC.
However, it was a scoreline which did not seem fair to Sabah FC although most fans were initially expecting a mauling with the team’s recent form and all the distractions from criticism on social media.
The departure of Ramon Machado and the absence of Saddil Ramdani and Darren Lok for the match due to injuries did not help matters as it further weakened the frontline and the chances of scoring was as good as nothing.
I was expecting Sabah FC to be on the backfoot right from the start, but to my surprise the final scoreline as a whole did not actually reflect the actual performance of the team.
Looking back, our depleted team started well until JDT FC scored the first goal from a corner after Khairul Fahmi Che Mat misjudged the cross and couldn’t get his hand on the ball.
Instead, it fell and bounced off Romel Morales into the goal. What a soft goal to concede and before the interval we found ourselves two goals down.
This time Romel received a through pass which split the Sabah FC backline and he scored with a simple tap in.
There were a few half chances created in the first half through S. Kumaahran and Jafri Chew but their efforts were just not good enough to find the net.
We managed to make the breakthrough in the 50th minute to reduce the deficit when Captain Park Tae Su was pulled down by Matthew Davies and the spot kick was easily converted by Gabriel Perez.
The players backed by the 10,000 odd supporters continued to press for the equaliser but failed to capitalise on the opportunities.
Instead JDT FC were awarded a penalty in the extra minutes added on after normal time and it was a very harsh decision by the referee who had the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) to assist in his judgement.
What I saw was a good tackle by Rawilson Batuil on Arif Aiman and he got the ball first, but unfortunately the referee had other ideas.
Despite the loss, our depleted side came out strong and played hard.
The players showed commendable fighting spirit throughout the match. Local lads Ahmad Havaz and Harith Naem were also given the opportunity and did well, but they obviously need to have more playing time.
Well, let’s move on from the latest disappointment. It was only the fourth game of the season for us.
Apart from JDT FC who have a perfect record so far with five wins, Sabah FC in fifth place are only two points behind second place Selangor FC who have played one game more.
