BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Selangor were rarely troubled by an under-strength Pahang in their Super League match on Tuesday, and hammered the Elephants 5-2 in the week 18 encounter.
Pahang will travel to Ipoh for their second leg FA Cup semi-final match against Perak this weekend, and head coach Dollah Salleh opted to rest all of his key players against Selangor.
In the post-match press conference, Selangor boss B. Satiananthan remarked that regardless of the quality of the opponents, his charges still did well to produce the win.
"Maybe there are fans who will say that the win only happened because Pahang fielded their back-up players, but our situation was similar. Regular starters such as Taylor [Regan], Praba (Prabakaran Kanadasan) Halim Saari and Kapet (Syazwan Zainon) were missing, so I must give credit for those who started tonight's match.
"We've been preparing for the match since last week, and there's nothing we can do if they (Pahang) decided against fielding their best line-up. We could only beat the team in front of us. And these detractors must remember, that we held Pahang to a draw in the match that was held in Kuantan earlier this season, when they fielded their best available side. So don't say we only won tonight because Pahang fielded reserve players, and we would've lost had Pahang fielded their key players," pointed out the former Malaysia boss.
He however declined to comment on the banner displayed by the team's ultras at the start of the match, which sarcastically reads 'Congratulations, Malaysia Cup finalists'.
Zulhilmi Zainal
Photo by Zulhilmi Zainal
He and the team were recently criticised by the ultras for supposedly lacking continental ambitions, after he was quoted as saying that the team would shift their focus onto the Malaysia Cup.
The winners of the season-ending tournament is not offered a place in AFC club competitions, unlike Super League and FA Cup champions. Although Selangor are out of the FA Cup and no longer have the chance to overtake table toppers JDT, there is still a slight chance for them to qualify as league runners up or third-place finishers.
"I don't want to talk about targets anymore, I don't want to be misunderstood again. I just want to concentrate on my team and continue building it from strength to strength. That's all. I don't want to think about anything [else]," noted the 61-year old trainer.
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