Sarawak’s skipper, Shahrol Saperi has reminded his teammates to stay focused and try to bring back the three points in their opening Malaysia Cup tie against Perak when they play them away on Aug 20.
“It will be a mammoth task for us as we will be facing not only the team but the vociferous Perak supporters,” said Shahrol when met at the training ground yesterday.
However, the Kampung Muara Tebas, Demak Laut-born midfielder is confident that his colleagues can shoulder the pressure and he has high hopes that their Premier League success will be their motivation to succeed in the Malaysia Cup tournament.
“We are in the right frame of mind to face Perak and with our recent success of clinching the Premier League, the players are raring to face the Cup tournament,” he added.
Shahrol, however, said that they do not know Perak’s style of play but the pressure will be on the home team to perform in front of their crowds.
“Last season in the Premier League, we were playing under pressure right to the last match of the season as we had to maintain our unbeaten run and thankfully we managed that,” he added.
“From what I see, we are all committed in our trainings and, hopefully, we will give a good performance in our first match,” he said.
For this year’s Malaysia Cup tournament, Sarawak are in Group D with Super League champions Lions XII and Kedah.
Sarawak’s second match will be against Lions XII at the State Stadium on Aug 24.
Source: New Sarawak Tribune
