Kota Kinabalu: A powerful stoppage time header from Sabah FC’s Gabriel Peres denied Kuala Lumpur City FC the maximum points in the Super League match at the KLFA Stadium on Wednesday.
His goal helped Sabah FC to tie 1-1 with the City boys at the final whistle.
The Brazilian centre back, who only came in the second half, jumped above everybody to head in the ball delivered by Stuart Wilkin from a free kick taken in the 92nd minute.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});The goal cancelled out the hosts’ opening goal through Declan Lambert’s deflected effort in the 64th minute.
Sabah FC had the better exchange in the early stage of the game before they were reduced to 10 men following the red card received by Dean Pelekanos for a dangerous tackle on Ryan Lambert towards the end of the half.
The home side made full use of their numerical advantage after the restart to mount a wave of attacks into Sabah FC’s box, but Damien Lim in goal was at his best to deny many of their attempts.
Assistant coach Alto Linus praised his players for their efforts after the match.
“It was a positive result in our first game of the season. As I had mentioned earlier, we came here to play a side with several good players.
“Furthermore, they were definitely more motivated after winning their opening match. It was never easy to play against them especially after we were down to 10 men.
“But if you look at the opening half, we created more chances to take the lead before we were one player down. I believe if we were playing with 11 players, we could have achieved a better result.
“However, credit must go to all the players for their tireless effort especially after conceding the goal to ensure we come back with one point,” he said.
He also explained the reason to start Gabriel on the bench and he only appeared in the 64th minute.
“He is still not match fit after recovering from his injury. It was the only reason we did not put him in the starting line-up as we had intended to play him for only 20-25 minutes in the second half.”
Meanwhile, Sabah FC will be taking on Bunga Raya FC in the FA Cup last 16 match at Stadium Tunku Abdul Rahman in Paroi, Negeri Sembilan this Sunday (August 17).
Their next league match is against Kelantan The Real Warriors FC at Likas Stadium on August 23.
