Selangor is bracing for a toughie against Perak at the Perak Stadium on Wednesday in a crucial Super League match which could decide their top three place – hitting the road to Ipoh without any training after the hard-fought 2-1 win over Felda United on Sunday.
Coach B.Satianathan wished the match against Perak would have taken place with some training for the Red Giants.
“Perak would not want to lose a second match in front of their home fans (after the 3-0 defeat to JDT). At the same time, Perak would not want to keep losing before the FA Cup final (against Kedah on July 27).
“Putting the defeat to JDT aside, you must remember Perak is a team that has been built over three years. They are strong and have quality new (foreigners) signings. These are the plus factors for Perak,” said Satianathan before leaving with the team for Ipoh.
Satianathan has a bagful of injuries to key players and first choice goalkeeper Farizal Harun is still serving a five-match suspension which ends with the Perak match.
The former national coach, however, is pleased that Farizal’s replacement Khairul Azhan Khalid has held the fort well.
For the Perak match, Selangor’s crock list has only grown longer after K. Prabakaran (defender) and midfielder Faiz Nasir got themselves injured playing on the artificial turf.
Others on the list are Halim Saari and Syahmi Safari.
“Perak are like wounded tigers after the defeat to JDT. We would feel the backlash and we have to play to our match strategies. There was no training for us after the match against Felda.
“We used the two days for recovery and now we are on the road again for another tough, tough match. Anything can happen in Ipoh but we have to brace ourselves. It has been tough on teams with the tight schedule,” added Satianathan.
The first round match in April ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Red Giants inched their way to third place in the 12-team league after the win over Felda with 31 points after 19 matches. JDT, who have already clinched their sixth successive league title, are top with 49 points followed by Pahang 33 points with a game in hand. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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