PETALING JAYA: It just took Ghanaian striker Rauf Salifu 25 minutes to prove his worth in his debut with Selangor.
And the 20-year-old is hoping that his whirlwind maiden performance in the Super League will lead to more opportunities in future games.
Salifu came in as a substitute in the 70th minute against Kelantan on Sunday, and hit the ground running by justifying coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s faith in him with two goals in the 80th and 91st minutes at the Petaling Jaya Stadium.
Before his rampage, Selangor had gone one up against the Red Warriors, with Ayron Del Valle scoring the first goal in the 28th minute.
The 3-0 victory had brought their winning run to three on a trot after beating Kuala Lumpur 3-1 on March 31 and Negri Sembilan 2-1 on April 4.
Salifu’s performance got everyone talking and coach Tan Cheng Hoe admitted that he was surprised too with such a performance in his first game.
“The two goals from him surprised us but I know what he did behind the scenes. Rauf not only worked hard in training but did extra drills too,” said Cheng Hoe.
“That hard work is the reason behind the two goals. I hope he would gain more confidence in the future games.”
Salifu was delighted over his early exploit with the Red Giants.
“It’s nice to score two goals in my first stint with Selangor. Insya-Allah, I hope there will be more to come. I am thrilled with how things went against Kelantan,” he said.
“I hope this is the start of better things.”
Selangor are now second in the league with 19 points and look good to continue that momentum but Cheng Hoe remained cautious.
“It looks good ... last three games, maximum points. But we have a long way to go. We have to improve on our possession and attacking movements,” said Cheng Hoe.
“We need to be sharper too. In the first half against Kelantan for instance, we were not sharp and could have conceded from counterattacks.
“In the second half, fortunately. our substitutions worked.”
