After spending the last 10 days in Kuala Lumpur, the Sarawak players could be forgiven for wanting a little bit of home comforts.
It took much effort for Sarawak to hold Premier League side Felda United 0-0 in the FA Cup quarter-final first leg in Selayang on Tuesday but Robert Alberts’ side can take pride in keeping a clean sheet in each of their three road games with still all to play for in the Super League and FA Cup.
Sarawak followed up their 1-0 FA Cup second round knockout of Selangor on Feb 4 in Petaling Jaya by beating PKNS 2-0 in a league match in Selayang last Friday before Tuesday’s stalemate with Felda.
That last result was achieved without five key players — the suspended trio of midfielder Junior Eldstal, defender Gabor Gyepes and goalkeeper Sani Anuar Kamsani and injured strikers Muamer Salibasic and Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli.
Alberts said his team were running on fumes towards the end of the match against Felda and praised the resilience shown by his side, who should have scored in the 35th minute but Milorad Janjus’ free-kick was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Farizal Harun.
“Not even in England do teams play three away matches in a row in eight days,” said the Dutchman after 1992 FA Cup winners Sarawak kept the tie alive for the second leg in Kuching next Tuesday.
“But 0-0 is a good result against a quality side like Felda in our third match here. It was very tiring for the players and I could not ask more of them.
“From that aspect 0-0 is a good result. We have another two matches to play this week and we look forward to that.”
Thankfully for Sarawak, both those games before the international break are in Kuching.
They play Perak in a league match on Saturday before hosting Felda in the FA Cup quarter-final return leg.
Sarawak are fourth in the Super League, just three points behind leaders Perak, and Alberts can welcome back his suspended trio this weekend.
Source: NST @ Sarawak tired but happy
