Sabah held to 1-1 draw by KL City in Likas

KOTA KINABALU (Jan 10): Ajdin Mujagic was on target as Sabah FC came back from a goal down to hold second placed KL City FC to a 1-1 draw at the Likas Stadium on Friday.

The Bosnian centre-forward fired home the equaliser in the 67th minute to register his 15th goal in all competitions under the current campaign.

Mujagic was lurking inside the box when he reacted the quickest to pick up a loose ball after Fergus Tierney’s initial shot was blocked.

He made no mistake with a confident left-footed strike that beat goalkeeper Quincy Julian Kammeraad.

KL City had, in the 50th, broken the deadlock following a goalless first half.

Striker Muhamad Safawi Rasid was alert to slide the ball home at the far post after the home defence failed to clear a low cross earlier.

Assistant head coach Alto Linus was satisfied with the players’ commitment and overall performance.

He, however, admitted that Sabah deserved more than one-point in the match, which was delayed for more than 30 minutes due heavy rain.

He stressed the Rhinos were the better team of the night.

“Based on our performance tonight, we deserved to win, but it ended in a draw.

“This is football,” Alto told reporters when met after the match.

The Rhinos remained eighth in the 13-team Super League table, collecting 14 points from three wins, five draws and five losses.

KL City, on the other hand, are second having collected 29 points from 14 matches.

Meanwhile, Alto said the return of team captain Dominic Tan from injury was a huge boost to the squad, especially when the Rhinos parted ways with left-sided defender Daniel Ting during the mid-season transfer window.

“We are happy that Dominic has returned to the team after a long injury.

“We have discussed with the management regarding the transfer window, and we do have our own plan of bringing in several players, especially foreign imports, to strengthen the team.

“There are some positions that we need to improve from what we have identified in the first round matches,” he said.

Sabah FC will next face Kelantan the Real Warriors FC at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium this Jan 13.