Dollah rues injuries to squad after draw with KL

Pahang missed the chance to close the gap to league leaders Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) to just two points when they could only managed a 2-2 draw away to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night. 

In the match, Pahang had to come from behind twice just to find the solitary point. Strikes from Mohamadou Sumareh and R. Kogileswaran cancelled out goals from Guilherme de Paula and Indra Putra Mahayudin respectively for Pahang to stay in second place in the league standings.

For Dollah Salleh, the head coach of Pahang, while he was satisfied with the outcome of the match, was left ruing the absence of key individuals that could have helped turned the game into their favour.

"We had a lot of injured players but we still managed to play well, so we have to be satisfied with the point. We were under pressure when Matthew Davies got injured in the warm-up. We were without Safuwan [Baharudin], [Francis] Forkey Doe, Mat Yo [Norshahrul Idlan] was 50-50."

"But overall we did well today. We had a lot of free kicks and corner kicks but we just didn't capitalise on it," said Dollah in the post-match press conference.

With Forkey Doe being sidelined for a sustained period of time, indications are that Pahang will be looking to replace the striker with a new import in the coming mid-season transfer window. 

The experienced Dollah confirmed that one former Terengganu player is already training with them but refused to confirm if any decision has been made with regard to that player. On the same note, Dollah is also intending to give the under-performing Chan Vathanaka more chances before deciding on his future.

"[Forkey's replacement] That one we have to wait until the window open. Few players are coming, we will see how. Issey is training with us but we haven't decided."

"Actually I was expecting more from him [Vathanaka] but that was the best he can give me so far. He's not too bad, he's okay. But as a foreign player, he should produce more," added Dollah.

Dollah has just five days to ensure that he gets his players back fit and ready for the challenge of the FA Cup quarterfinal second leg away to the daunting home ground of JDT this coming Friday. It's still all to play for in the tie after the first leg ended nil-nil.