In it goes: Ronald Ngah scores his first goal with header against Kelantan during their Super League match. — Kuching City FC
PETALING JAYA: Kuching City’s new Cameroonian signing Ronald Ngah has announced his arrival in style with a dream debut in the Super League.
The 33-year-old Ngah scored twice in a thumping 4-0 Super League win over Kelantan at the State Stadium in Kuching on Saturday.
He struck in the sixth minute to calm early nerves, before sealing the rout in the 71st minute.
Timor Leste winger Joao Pedro added the second in the 17th minute, while Ramadhan Saifullah wrapped things up in stoppage time to send the 8,000 home fans into raptures.
Ngah was beaming after the final whistle and perfect start.
Ronald Ngah“It’s every striker’s wish in his debut – to score goals and I made it twice,” said the striker, who is known as Pak Ngah among the fans.
“Personally I’m happy and grateful to my teammates, coaches and fans, not leaving out the management. I thank God for this.
The dominant scoreline, he said, was more than just three points, it was a statement.
“The scoreline sends a big message to everyone. But to us as a team, we’ve got much more to do to keep up the level and objectives we’ve set. We can only attain that by being committed and staying positive.”
While fans are already buzzing about their upcoming clash with defending champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) on Aug 24, Ngah is keeping his focus on the next hurdle, an FA Cup first-leg round-of-16 match against Brunei on Aug 16 at the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan.
“JDT are still far because we’ve got Brunei next. We take it game by game. Until then, we’ll be preparing hard for our next match.”
The emphatic victory under coach Aidil Sharin’s guidance has given Kuching City early-season momentum and they would be out to ride on it.
Meanwhile, Kelantan coach E. Elavarasan accepted the defeat gracefully.
“Kuching City were much more prepared than us. They were competitive and the team unity was solid,” said the former Malaysia Under-23 coach.
“We conceded some easy and soft goals. We were not effective upfront and the defence were not solid enough. In terms of duels, we lost most of them, Kuching were much, much better.”
When asked what needs to be done by them in order to mount a stronger challenge against Immigration at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru tomorrow, Elavarasan did not mince his words.
“Our players have to show improvement if we want to do better in the league.
“We need to get better quality players into the team. The window is still on, so we will look around.”
