Humiliating 5-0 thrashing due to unpaid wages

IPOH - Sabah coach Jelius@Tabias Ating admitted that players' unpaid wages was the reason for the humiliating defeat against Perak in the Malaysia Cup semi-final first leg clash.

Sabah’s poor performance saw the Bos Gaurus thrash the Rhinos 5-0 at the Perak Football Stadium last night.

“To be honest, we all are humans and our feelings can be affected. When a player’s emotion is disturbed, it’s hard to overcome it.

“However, as a coach I tried by best to motivate and support them, but the reality is that it was a difficult situation to overcome,” he told reporters after the match.

It was learnt that some of the Sabah players have yet to receive their salaries, dating back some three months. Sabah FA supporters have launched an online fundraiser to aid the players.

Jelius also pointed out that his players did not perform in the match against Perak.

“If you look at our Malaysia Cup campaign, we played well and overcome Super League teams such as Selangor, Pahang and PKNP.

“This is not the real performance of the players. They can do better, but what happen in the game was the players don’t have the character to win the match,” he added.

Jelius also admitted that it will be difficult for Sabah to score six goals in the return leg, which is scheduled to be played at the Likas Stadium on Oct 21st.

“Finding six goals or even five to tie the game is a difficult mission. However, we will prepare the team and fix our weaknesses.

“Even if we can’t find six goals, we will do our best just to win the game. It’s important for me and an honour to the sport,” he said.

Perak dominated throughout the game, with goals from Nor Hakim Hassan, Wander Luiz Bitencourt Junior, Gilmar Jose Da Silva Filho, Firdaus Saiyadi and Leandro Dos Santos Oliveira giving the team a commanding lead ahead of the second leg in Kota Kinabalu.

Meanwhile, Perak coach Mehmed Durakovic warned his players not to take their opponents lightly in the return leg.

“It’s not going to be easy in Sabah. They have good local players and talented imported foreigners in the forward line,” he said.

“I didn’t expect to win big. The players were good, they never skip training and show professionalism on and off the pitch. I’m happy with the result.

“We have two weeks to prepare and five of my players called up for the national team. I’m not worried, it’s an honour for a player to represent his country. We will use whoever available,” added Mehmed.

News on 8 October 2018