As the season draws to a close, so does the temperature increase in the Crocs battle to retain themselves in the Super League next season.
Their first vital challenge is again former Super League champs, Lions XII, which has proven to be a hard nut to crack on their Jalan Besar artificial pitch.
So far, record has shown that the Crocs are very weak at Jalan Besar, with the artificial pitch allowing the ball to move faster than what the Crocs are used to.
With Sarawak just recently opening its first ever artificial pitch in Kuching, the Crocs are lacking match practice on such pitch, and this makes every favour turn to Lions XII which has been quite formidable at their own turf, although such record isn’t as great as last season.
Good news however traveled to Kuching today that Hafiz Sujad and Khairul Nizam is still unavailable, with Safuwan Baharudin a major doubt as well. Midfielder Firdaus Kasman would also be out as he is suspended.
But the Crocs are not without their own problems as Gabor Gyepes, and Hassan Mohammad have also been ruled out of this fixture, with Ramesh Lai still down with a virus. Zamri Morshidi remains doubtful, but the rest of the squad looks good to go.
Despite beating Lions XII 3-1 in Stadium Negeri lat March, the Crocs would be wary that they might not be able to retain the result at Jalan Besar although Robert Alberts would be very keen to see his boys do so.
The defence line of the Crocs is expected to be retained for this game after they performed admirably against T-Team, while Robert is expected to make some slight changes in the midfield.
Everyone is expecting a high octane game as both side battle out for better placing in the Super League.
That said, we expect both sides to cancel out each other with the Crocs happy that they had managed to secure their spot in the Super League next season.
OUR BIASED PREDICTION: Lions XII 1-1 Sarawak
Our Predicted line-up: Fadzley R, Dzulazlan Ibrahim, Ronny H, Hairol M, Mazwandi Z, Joseph K, Junior E, Rashid A, S Chanturu, R. Griffith, Muamer S.
