KUCHING: Sabah FC head coach, Juan Torres Garrido, admitted his side took too long to settle into the Borneo Derby as the Rhinos fell 2-0 to Kuching City FC at the Sarawak State Stadium on Saturday night (March 7).
The Spanish tactician said his players needed nearly 20 minutes to adapt to the hosts’ tempo and organisation, by which time Sabah had already fallen two goals behind.
“When you face this kind of team, you need to give everything, but it took around 20 minutes for us to get used to the opponent,” he said after the derby.
Garrido noted that once Sabah realised they were trailing by two goals, the dynamic of the match changed despite his players continuing to push forward.
“When we realised we were two goals behind, the game became different. The team gave everything and I cannot complain about that, but we need to maintain that level for the full 90 minutes,” he said.
He added that Sabah had chances to get back into the contest but failed to capitalise, which ultimately cost them the opportunity to shift the momentum of the match.
“If we score one goal in one of the chances we had, we are in the game and emotionally everything changes,” he said.
The defeat leaves Sabah FC in 10th place in the Malaysia Super League standings as they look to regroup for the remaining fixtures.
