KUCHING, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Kuching City FC head coach Aidil Sharin Sahak hailed his players’ hunger and determination after The Cats stormed into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a resounding 7-1 victory over DPMM FC at Stadium Negeri last night.
The emphatic win, powered by a hat-trick from Cameroon striker Wanja Ronald Ngah, marked a significant improvement from their previous clash in Brunei and underlined the role of home support in driving Aidil’s men forward.
“The big difference tonight is we showed more hunger and we knew we needed to win. Also, the fans were always behind us and that’s very important in football.
“Overall, the boys' performance was superb even though we played against 10 men,” he told reporters after the match last night.
Looking ahead, Aidil said Kuching City FC must now shift focus back to the Super League, with Selangor their next opponents on Sept 21.
“Selangor is a big team but we will play at home, hopefully with good weather so both teams can perform for the fans. Tonight we celebrate, but tomorrow we start preparing again for the next match,” he said.
Meanwhile, DPMM coach James Reynolds McAllister admitted his team struggled badly after a poor start and being reduced to 10 men following the 20th-minute red card for defender Jordan Rodrigues.
“Really disappointed with how we started. We spoke all week about starting well, but we made too many mistakes. Then we got a silly red card, 10 men after 20 minutes and already 2-0 down… Not the start we wanted.
“We gifted them probably six out of seven goals. Not defending properly, not marking in the box, not winning one-on-one duels. That’s the basics of football, if you don’t do that, you have a tough night,” he said.
He said the team must quickly regroup and shift their focus to the next match, insisting that lessons learned from the heavy defeat could still strengthen their campaign moving forward.
“You've got to dust yourself down, learn from your mistakes and go again and fight harder. Just do the basics, do your jobs properly… it's easy if you do the basics, it gives you a chance,” he added.
-- BERNAMA
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