Head coach Bojan was undoubtedly pleased when the City Boys grabbed our first away win of the season, condemning Sarawak Utd., to their fifth home loss, in a come from behind 2-1 victory at the State Stadium in Kuching on Tuesday.
The result saw Kuala Lumpur City hanging onto fifth position in the Super League standings, two points behind second placed Sabah, though all the teams in competition with the exception of the Golden Hornbills have between 1 to 4 matches in hand over us. It also marked the first success from Cheras, last being in the Malaysia Cup quarter-final against Selangor, where we won the first leg in Kelana Jaya, 2-0.
In the pitch side interview following an absorbing contest which could have put to rest earlier had our finishing been clinical, especially in the first period, Bojan offered his views of what transpired in the 90 minutes.
“For us, (what was) important was (the) 3 points. I think that we deserved this 3 points. Sarawak was a little bit tired from last FA Cup (Second Round match vs Johor DT on Saturday in Iskandar Puteri), you can see that and we dominate(d) basically whole match.”
He pointed out the Kuala Lumpur City’s control of the match was almost total, but once again, we were nearly upended by our wastefulness in front of goal.
“First half, you can see that we had so many chances. They scored an unbelievable goal (by S. Chanturu) but at the end, we fight till the end, and we managed to score two goals.”
Bojan also credited his boys for putting in a good shift and commended them for holding their head up high and not settling for a point, when the result seemed headed as such.
“It was not easy because (the) pitch is horrible. I thought that our pitch was the worst in the country but this is definitely the worst field in the league.”
The Croatian was irked when pressed for reasons of Partiban’s exclusion from the starting eleven today, after getting the opener against Penang last week.
“We have 22 players, so everybody need(s) to play their part”, he told.
He was also asked if the revised break for the national team’s training camp to prepare for the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers in June, came at the wrong time, considering that the match at Terengganu was initially scheduled for this Saturday, but was postponed to June 18, 2022 and the city slickers have won two on the trot.
“I think that it’s a good time (for the break) because we need to prepare for (the) AFC Cup also, that we have after Terengganu game. So this Terengganu game will also help us to prepare.”, he answered.
He further explained his reasons.
“Maybe, at the moment we start to win. In the last 6 matches, we won 4 (Vs Melaka Utd, Sabah, Penang, Sarawak Utd) but actually in (the) 2 matches that we lost (Vs Negeri Sembilan, S Pahang) we also played really well, especially vs Negeri (Sembilan), we were supposed to win. So maybe it was not the right time for us, maybe will be better (that) we continue with the leave.”
To read the match report of Sarawak Utd. vs KL City on 17/5/2022 (Super League), please click https://kualalumpurfootball.com/2022/05/19/mission-aidilfitri-part-3-first-away-win-since-november-super-sub-partiban-delivers-a-last-minute-winner/
To watch the highlights of Sarawak Utd. vs KL City on 17/5/2022, please click https://youtu.be/RbPMc3RsVcU
To watch the complete match of Sarawak Utd. vs KL City on 17/5/2022 (Super League), please click https://youtu.be/OKB2MPvc4Sk