KL hoping for Woodland to help boost their backline

PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur coach Yusri Che Lah is hoping that his new defender will be ready for their next Super League match against Terengganu on Friday.

The City Boys have dropped their injured Indonesian Achmad Jufriyanto and have signed the Philippines’ Luke Woodland as the replacement. KL are expected to complete the registration before the transfer window closes tomorrow.

Injuries to centrebacks Khair Jones and the last-minute departure of Syazwan Andik Ishak to Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) have weakened the backline, which saw them concede seven goals in their first two Super League matches (losing 1-3 to Pahang and 1-4 to JDT).

Yusri said he’s glad that the KL FA management have been supportive of the decision to sign a new centreback.

“I hope the new centreback can stabilise our backline. We have only a couple of days before the match against Terengganu at our home ground, I hope we will be ready by then,” said the former international.

“We have always given extra when we play at home at the Cheras Football Stadium, this time we are facing another tough opponent and my aim is to not concede any more goals.”

“This doesn’t mean that we will play a defensive game, I just want the team to play better defensively because of the quality of Terengganu’s attacking players like Kipre (Tchetche), Sanjar (Shaakhmedov) and Lee Tuck. They are not psychically imposing but they are very fast and good with their chances.”

Yusri said playing to their strength will be the key against Terengganu and their postponed match against Perak last week had given them more time to regroup.

He also added that not having all five of their import players has been affecting his preparation for matches.

“We have issue with injuries and we couldn’t field all five imports at the same time like other teams and it really affected us. But I’m not giving excuses, I will work with the resources available to get a positive result for the team,” said the 42-year-old coach.