Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC missed the chance to grab three points against Selangor FC after a goalless draw in the Super League match held at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium (MBPJ) on Thursday night.
Darren Lok had two golden scoring opportunities in the second half. The first came in the 51st minute but his header was off target with the goal at his mercy followed by his spot kick that was saved by the goalkeeper in the 74th minute.
It was a cautious start by the league’s second and third placed teams in rainy conditions.
Sabah FC’s skipper Dominic Tan also had to make an unexpected early exit due to an injury in the 12th minute to be replaced by Dinesh Rajasingam.
Apart from the misses from Darren, both sides had their fair share of chances but were unable to convert.
The result was a blow to Sabah FC as their closest rivals Terengganu FC, who thrashed Sri Pahang FC 5-1 on the same evening, were able to close the gap to four points.
Sabah FC with 35 points are also eight points behind Selangor FC with three more matches left to play.
Despite the disappointment, head coach Martin Stano (pic) gave credit to his players after the match.
“I would have been happy with one point if you had asked me before the start but after the game, we were a bit disappointed not just with the missed penalty. “It was one of our best games this season. We dominated the game especially in the second half.
“We deserved to win but we are also happy with the one point as it was not easy to play Selangor away especially after they had just won the Challenge Cup.“We were disrupted in the first half following Dominic Tan’s injury. As a result we lost our rhythm but managed to recover and overall we played a good game,” he said.
He also played down the penalty miss by Darren and said the striker was not to be blamed.
“He had never missed the penalty for the team before and no blame to him. “It is part of football and we have to move on and focus on the next game against Terengganu FC (March 7).”
