binny

I managed to pull off a major scoop just before the next match as former French international Emmanuel Petit joined our backroom staff. Still only 34, Petit will instantly command the respect of the squad and hopefully he can help our players to improve themselves.

First though, we were at Melaka, and for once we were the better side during the early exchanges. We weren’t helped though when Luis Rodrigo was taken off injured, but his bruised head should clear up in time for next week’s tie. Clear-cut goalmouth chances were at a premium, but we did manage to eek out a few chances of our own.

We didn’t get into our stride in the second half, and after surviving a few chances Melaka took the lead midway through the second period. We regrouped after that, and a couple of substitutions saw us look more lively. With five minutes to go Abdul Ghani Malik hooked in from a throw-in and we had earned ourselves a decent draw.

binny

I made another signing just before the next game as another promising right back joined our ranks. Afani Zamzan will compete with Subri Sulong for the right back spot following his £1k move from Johor.

Afani was on the bench as N. Sembilan came to visit, and I was glad to see a decent crowd turn up to the game; the official gate topped 3000! The game itself wasn’t much to behold, and we weren’t helped when Marcelho Padilha da Rocha was sent off before the half hour mark for a reckless second challenge.

The visitors made things difficult for us; in fact they had only conceded one goal in the league before today’s game. Just before half time though an Abdul Hanan free kick took a wicked deflection into the net, and our ten men were ahead. The visitors struggled to get past our hard work in the second half, and a neat counter-attacking move late on ended with Abdul Hanan grabbing his second of the afternoon.

There was some bad news after the game as Rashid Mamud, our right-winger, had picked up a calf strain, and would be out for a fortnight.

binny

We only had three days to prepare for our first leg FA Cup match at home to Terengganu, who are leading our division. Injuries and suspensions forced my hand somewhat, and I also decided to rest some of my better players as well; we do have to concentrate on the league after all.

We started well enough, but really struggled to make anything count in the final third. Chandran, our goalie, kept up his great form with a string of saves to keep the scores at 0-0.

Just after half time though the visitors broke through to score, and we really struggled to get back into the game. Legs tired as the game wore on, and we’re going to face a mammoth task in four weeks’ time in order to make it through to the next round.

binny

March ended with a trip to Kelantan SKMK who were still winless coming into the game. We started brightly enough, but an injury to Luis Rodrigo with just quarter of an hour gone seemed to disrupt our pattern of play.

The home side sensed our unease, and after a few attempts on our goal, they finally broke through to take the lead ten minutes before half time. We had two chances to equalise before half time, but our finishing let us down, and we were still behind at the break.

The second half was an even bigger disappointment as we hardly created anything, and we crashed to a second successive 1-0 defeat.

binny

SUMMARY – March 2005

Kuala Lumpur 2 (Marcelo Padilha da Rocha 61, Eddy Helmi Abdul Hanan 85)
Selangor MK Land 1 (Marlon James 19)
Attendance: 320

Melaka 1 (Norizam Ali Hassan 68)
Kuala Lumpur 1 (Abdul Ghani Malik 85)
Attendance: 7174

Kuala Lumpur 2 (Eddy Helmi Abdul Hanan 44, 81, Marcelho Padilha da Rocha s/o 28)
N. Sembilan 0
Attendance: 3050

Kuala Lumpur 0
Terengganu 1 (Ahmed Tahrin Yusuf 49)
Attendance: 423
FA Cup Second Round, First Leg

Kelantan SKMK 1 (Kaveepen Taveebut 35)
Kuala Lumpur 0
Attendance: 2590

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Selangor MPPJ 7 4 1 2 14 9 +5 132nd Terengganu 7 3 4 0 6 2 +4 133rd Kelantan 7 3 3 1 11 8 +3 124th Kuala Lumpur 8 3 3 2 10 7 +3 125th N. Sembilan 7 2 3 2 4 4 0 96th Kelantan SKMK 7 1 4 2 5 9 -4 77th Selangor MK Land 7 1 2 4 7 9 -2 58th Melaka 6 0 5 1 5 8 -3 59th Johor 6 1 1 4 4 10 -6 4</pre>

binny

We didn’t have a match in the first week of April as it was our turn to have the round off. We’re now a third of the way through the season, and although we’re only two points off the top of the table, we’re going to have to improve our form, or rather get some form, if we’re going to have any chance of winning the division.

With the squad getting quite big, I was more than happy to offload reserve defender Patrick Maria Mariasingaraya to Johor FC for a nominal fee. But as we headed towards our next match, a training ground accident has seen Zaykiel Leong ruled out for two months with a broken shoulder.

A first away win of the season appeared to still be elusive as we fell behind at Kelantan after just eleven minutes. We were making things difficult for ourselves with giving the ball away a big feature of our play early on. But as the half wore on we shaped up, and although we tried for an equaliser using the tried and trusted methods, it took a surging and brilliant run from our Brazilian forward to get us back on level terms five minutes before the break.

The equaliser gave us confidence, and in the second half we started to show what we were made of. Chances were difficult to carve out though, but twelve minutes from time we eventually broke through, and Abdul Manan’s strike gave us a first away league victory.

binny

Feelings were buoyant in the club after breaking our away form hoodoo, but one player not destined to stay at the club was winger Azizal Mohd Idrus. He moved to Johor on a free transfer, and guess who we were up against next!

That’s right, Johor were coming to town, and we were fully expecting to beat the club that were bottom of the pile. We attacked from the kick-off, and with twelve minutes gone Luis Rodrigo gave us the lead with his first strike of the season. Johor almost equalised with a counter-attack, but soon we were back into our stride, and Abdul Manan scored his 5th goal of the season to put us in control.

We could have been into double figures at full time. Players from all over the field were lining up to take efforts at the Johor goal, and on the hour Rufin Oba finally scored his first goal for the club. Rashid Mamud added a fourth with a wonderful far-post volley, and a fifth was scored nine minutes from time by substitute Nordin Kamis from just outside the box.

A 5-0 win is just what we needed to get our spirits up, and results elsewhere have actually seen us jump to the top of the table on goal difference.

binny

Midweek saw a trip to Terengganu for our second leg cup match. I decided that this was definitely going to play second fiddle to our league campaign, and only three first-teamers were in the starting line-up.

And we didn’t help ourselves early on, when Marcelho Padilha da Rocha’s mouth got himself sent off. And two minutes later a dodgy penalty awarded to the home side had then in front on the night, and in control of the tie as well.

We battled well, but with ten men, it was hard going for us, and the last thing we needed was Nordin Kamis mouthing off to the referee ten minutes before half time to receive his marching orders. The nine men left on the field battled well, and somehow, R. Sunder Selver equalised on the counter-attack just after half time.

Three minutes later though the home sides’ Togolese striker, Alfa Potowabawi, hit us where it hurt with another goal, and he grabbed a third late on to knock us right out of the cup.

binny

We were a little short on staff due to suspension for the top-of-the-table visit to Selangor MPPJ, but the side that I put out was still more than capable of getting a result.

We got the break that we needed thirteen minutes in as we were awarded a penalty, and R. Sunder Selver netted his second in as many games. With the confidence knocked out of the home side, we pushed forward in search of a second, and just before the half hour mark Abdul Manan doubled our advantage. As if that wasn’t enough, Rashid Mamud grabbed a third on the stroke of half time with a powerful header.

The game changed though early in the second half when Nazrulerwan Makmor went in dangerously on an opponent. He was lucky to only get a booking, but it was his second of the game, and he was off. We held the home side at bay for a while, but with still twenty minutes to go they pulled a goal back, and the comeback was on. We defended well, but with ten minutes to go they got a second goal back, and we were going to be in for a tough last ten minutes.

Indeed we were holding on when they hit an equaliser four minutes from time, but just as we looked to be heading for a draw, their striker fired in from 25 yards out to win the game in the fifth minute of injury time.

It was a bad day all round. Not only did we let slip a three-goal lead, but for our next game we’re going to be very short on options as half our side will be suspended for having picked up too many bookings during the season so far. And just to make matters even worse, Malik fractured his cheekbone during training, and he’ll be out for a few weeks as a result.

binny

SUMMARY – April 2005

Kelantan 1 (Roslan Kamaruddin 11)
Kuala Lumpur 2 (Marcelo Padilha da Rocha 40, Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan 78)
Attendance: 5804

Kuala Lumpur 5 (Luis Rodrigo 12, Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan 26, Rufin Oba 61, Rashid Mamud 73, Nordin Kamis 81)
Johor 0
Attendance: 2650

Terengganu 3 (Azmi Che Ngah pen 14, Alfa Potowabawi 57, 88)
Kuala Lumpur 1 (R. Sunder Selver 54, Marcelho Padilha da Rocha s/o 12, Nordin Kamis s/o 35)
Attendance: 477
FA Cup Second Round, Second Leg (Terengganu win 4-1 on aggregate)

Selangor MPPJ 4 (Abdul Rahman Bakar 68, Kamarulzaman Yub Abdul Majid 80, 90, Harizal Izwan Radzi 86)
Kuala Lumpur 3 (R. Sunder Selver pen 13, Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan 29, Rashid Mamud 45, Nazrulerwan Makmor s/o 47)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Selangor MPPJ 11 6 3 2 23 15 +8 212nd Kuala Lumpur 11 5 3 3 20 12 +8 183rd Terengganu 11 3 7 1 7 6 +1 164th Kelantan 10 3 4 3 12 12 0 135th N. Sembilan 11 2 7 2 7 7 0 136th Selangor MK Land 10 3 3 4 13 11 +2 127th Melaka 11 1 8 2 10 13 -3 118th Kelantan SKMK 10 1 7 2 6 10 -4 109th Johor 11 1 4 6 5 17 -12 7</pre>