Zainal knows exactly what he needs for Melaka

Hard at work: The Melaka players going through their paces in training. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Melaka coach Zainal Abidin Hassan has a crystal clear vision on what his team need after their pre-season tour in Indonesia.

The Mousedeer concluded their tour with a 2-2 draw with PSKC Cimahi at the Jalak Harupat Stadium on Monday.

Skipper Safiq Rahim was the hero for Melaka as he bagged a brace (70th and 77th minute) after coming off the bench in the second half.

Cimahi’s goals were scored by Dian Sasongko (10th) and Hendrik Perdana (72nd).

Melaka had earlier kicked off their tour with a 3-2 win over Bandung United on Jan 30 before suffering a 1-3 loss to Persib Bandung on Feb 1.

Zainal said they had had a fruitful outing in Bandung and his only complaint was that the team were without striker Uche Agba who did not travel due to visa issues and defender Curran Singh Ferns, who was injured.

“There are plenty of positives in this tour... Safiq has made a full recovery and combined well with our new signing Sony (Norde), we managed to give all the players a chance to play and prove themselves, ” said the former international after arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday.

“We lost to Persib as we were changing the players towards the end of the match.

“Actually, the players did well and I see the loss as a chance for us to improve ourselves.

“We missed Uche and Curran, if they had played in the tour it would have been perfect as we would have more input on the team and the players.”Uche, at least, will be in the squad when the Mousedeer play Premier League side Terengganu II in Melaka on Feb 9. Zainal said he would also check out his players in two to three matches before the start of the season on Feb 28.

“We know the areas in which we need to improve and that will be the focus in our next matches... I don’t want to rely only on a starting XI... I want all the players to be ready to play, ” said the 57-year-old coach.