PETALING JAYA: Sarawak believe they can avoid being relegated from the Super League after a confidence-boosting come-from-behind 4-2 win over Kedah.
The East Malaysians trailed 2-0 in the first-half but found their groove after a half-time pep talk by head coach Pengiran Bala.
Sarawak went on to stun the visitors with four goals in the second half of their penultimate fixture at the State Stadium in Kuching on Wednesday.
“It was a tremendous fightback. I told them to forget about the first-half and that if they can get one goal, everything could change. And it sure did.
“That was our best performance of the season. I think we may have done just enough to avoid relegation, but we’re not going to take any chances in the last game against T-Team next month,” said Pengiran, who is no stranger to Sarawak football, having been a key member of the famous “Ngap Sayot” side who qualified for their first-ever Malaysia Cup semi-finals in 1988.
Sarawak badly needed to beat Kedah to keep their survival hopes alive. But the Red Eagles showed no mercy as they raced to a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time through goals by Ken Ilso (eighth minute) and Baddrol Bakhtiar (44th).
Sarawak bounced back with goals from Nur Shamie (53rd), Mateo Roskam (58th pen, 63rd) and Hairol Mokhtar (76th).
Sarawak have 20 points and are in 10th spot in the 12-team Super League standings, with one more match to go.
The bottom two teams will be relegated.
Basement-side Penang, on 12 points, have already been demoted to the Premier League.
That leaves – T-Team (22pts), Sarawak (20pts) and Kelantan (19pts) – fighting to avoid joining the Panthers in the second tier of the M-League.
FA of Sarawak (FAS) secretary Razali Dolhan said that the fighting spirit shown by the team would attract a bigger crowd when they host T-Team in their last game of the season at the State Stadium in Kuching on Oct 28.
All the Crocs need is a win to keep their place in the top flight.
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