KUCHING: Sarawak interim coach Mohamad Denny Dai’al blamed it on weak defence for his team’s 1-3 loss to JDT II in the curtain raiser of the Challenge Cup tournament at Stadium Majlis Perbandaran Pasir Gudang, Johor Bahru on Monday night.
Denny admitted that he wasn’t impressed with the performance of his foreign imports but praised his local players.
Sarawak opened account in the fifth minute through Nor Azizi Ramlee but JDT II struck back three times in the 25th, 45th and 59th minutes through Nicolas Fernandez, Md Rozaimi Abd Rahman and Mohammad Gaddar respectively for a convincing 3-1 victory.
“Although we were leading 1-0, weak defence due to a lapse of concentration opened up spaces for JDT II to punish us,” Deny told TribuneSports.
He said JDT II have good possesion and made several good crosses into the penalty area which they converted into a string of goals. JDT II, he said, dominated the first half while the Crocs controlled the game in the second half.
Denny added that although his team dominated the second half and created several chances, they failed to increase the score.
Only two foreign players — Hudson Dias De Jesus and Pedro Henrique Dias De Amorim — were fielded and Deny pointed out that Pedro did not command the defence well enough.
However, Denny did defend his players by saying that they played well, notably the local players.
He said the Challenge Cup tournament which was introduced last year is a good platform for him to assess his players’ performances.
It is also an avenue to pick players for next season as well as the team’s preparation for the Premier League play-off match.
Sarawak’s next match is against Kelantan at the Sarawak Stadium here on Aug 20. Denny said he will continue to instil the winning mentality among his players, regardless of the results of their matches.
