Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC’s head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee admitted that his side was beaten by a better team following their 1-2 loss to Kedah FC in the Super League tie at Darul Aman Stadium, Friday night.
Despite taking an early lead, Sabah FC were mostly on the receiving end and unable to mount any serious threat against the home side, especially after the withdrawal of Jailton Paraiba due to injury in the 30th minute.
However, Ong played down suggestions that Jailton’s early exit may have denied them their first away win of the season.
“His absence may have had some impact on our rhythm but we only managed to control the game for a short while after the goal.
SPONSORED CONTENT Damar Residence coming up soon PAPAR: Those who love nature and a healthy lifestyle should consider Damar Residence, in Lok Kawi. Read more “We have to accept the result and try to improve our game because every defeat must have its weaknesses and we have to admit that we are not good enough to overcome Kedah.
“ They have individuals who were able to create something from tight situations and as a result managed to find the equaliser followed by the winning goal in the second half.
“What is important now is for us to bounce back in the second round. We lost three matches in the first round and all were away games
“We are still on the right track to improve our position in the table standing and we have to win points in the away games and at the same to maintain our unbeaten record at home in the second round,” he said.
Sabah FC who were unbeaten for the past five matches in the league started the match brightly on Friday.
They opened the scoring in the 7th minute through Gabriel Peres’s header as a result of a pinpoint delivery by skipper Baddrol Bakhtiar from a free kick.
Both teams were evenly matched until Jailton was stretched off following a collision with Bojan Ciger in the middle of the pitch.
Kedah FC seemed to gain an upper hand after that and Lee Tuck was able to beat the onrushing Damien Lim in goal to score the equaliser in the 40th minute.
They had a chance to take the lead before the end of first half but the point blank effort by Manuel Ott was brilliantly turned away by Damien.
The home side continued their dominance in the second half and their relentless attacks finally paid off when Lee Tuck struck home his second from close range in the 70th minute.
Sabah FC tried to make a comeback late in the match and Gabriel in the dying minutes saw his first header saved by the keeper and the second missed the target.
With the loss, Sabah finished the first round in fifth place with 24 points from seven wins, three draws and three losses.
Their next match is against PDRM FC away on June 8.
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