KUCHING: Off-field events may have a big influence on the outcome of tonight’s match between Sarawak and Kelantan at the Sultan Mohamad IV Stadium.
Kelantan sacked their coach Steve Darby last Wednesday following a run of poor results which for the management and their fans was unacceptable as the team had been the dominant force in the Super League in the past three seasons.
Kelantan’s home ground advantage may be negated by the loss of their manager and low confidence but Sarawak’s coach Robert Alberts cautioned that the instead of being distracted by their off-field troubles the Kelantan players could be fired up to prove they were still a force to be reckoned with.
“They might have this mentality to prove everyone wrong as they have been criticised for their performances this season but we chose not to dwell on their troubles as we just want to focus solely on winning this game,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
The Crocs on the other hand have their tail up at the moment up following their two match winning streak after a patch of indifferent form.
Sarawak beat struggling ATM team 3-2 at home on April 8 and then went on to surprise high-flying Terengganu edging them 2-1 at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah last Friday.
Prior to this mini revival Sarawak were on a bad run of four games without a win stretching from 3-1 away loss to Pahang to the 3-1 defeat at home to Terengganu on April 5.
Fatigue might hamper the Crocs tonight as Alberts lamented that the team had not much time to recover after the last match.
However he believed that his players would go all out tonight as the Super League would take a three-week break after this week. And then there is that little business of avenging their 0-1 defeat to Kelantan at the Stadium Negeri in January.
Sarawak’s next match after tonight will be against Sime Darby at home on May 10.