Sharpshooter: Sabah’s Stuart Wilkin (left) celebrating with teammate after scoring against Putrajaya Athletic during the Malaysia Cup match. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Sabah interim coach Alto Linus can sleep well after this.
The 38-year-old passed his first pressure cooker test as the team cruised into the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals by eliminating Putrajaya Athletic on a 7-0 aggregate score after winning 3-0 in the last 16, second-leg match on Wednesday.
A goal each from a penalty by Darren Lok, Stuart Wilkin and Joao Pedro was enough to give Sabah a 3-0 victory at Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras on Wednesday to become the first team to book a place in the quarter-finals.
The Rhinos had claimed a 4-0 lead over PT Athletic in the first leg earlier this month.
It is also the sixth win on the trot for Sabah, who are currently third in the Super League standings behind Selangor and Johor Darul Ta’zim.
It is certainly not easy for Alto to take on the role as the former Sabah coach is none other than Datuk Ong Kim Swee, who was known as an astute tactician.
However, Alto had been prepared well being a student under Kim Swee during his playing and early coaching days.
When Kim Swee, who is now with Indonesian club Persis Solo, took over the Rhinos in 2021, Alto was a regular wingback for the team until his retirement at the end of 2022.
He became one of Kim Swee’s assistants and this year has taken on the hotseat, albeit on a short term basis.
“Overall, I am satisfied with the players despite losing the services of the head coach,” said Alto.
“The players still behaved professionally both in training and matches.
“Of course it is a pressure for me because it is not easy to replace Datuk Ong Kim Swee but what he taught me is very helpful and I have to maintain what has been done and do not need to do a different way because that is what we do during training.
“I would be lying if I said I was not nervous at the beginning. But I am happy and satisfied with the performance of the professional players and now we will be ready to meet anyone in the quarter-finals,” he said.
Alto also sees Sabah as having a chance to qualify for the Malaysia Cup final this season but he wants to take a match-by-match approach to ensure the players remain focused on their actions.
“If you look at our route, Sabah have a chance to qualify for the final. That is the target of all the management and players but we have to focus on every match.”
In last year’s Malaysia Cup competition, Sabah lost 2-3 on aggregate to Perak at the quarter-finals stage.
Sabah have only reached the Malaysia Cup final on three previous occasions – 1996, 2002 and 2003 – but lost all their encounters.
