'I have faith in my players'

Kota Kinabalu: The win against Pahang on Monday has provided the perfect tonic for the Sabah team in their upcoming Super League match against Harimau Muda in Likas this Sunday.

Justin Ganai has successfully transformed the team in less than a week and the players have shown a tremendous work rate and fighting spirit in the last two games they have played under him.

He laughed it off when asked whether he has used any special tricks to motivate the players that changed their attitude towards the game in such a short time.

"No, there is no magic involved. I always have faith in the quality of the players. Furthermore some of them have been following me since the reserve days and they proved to me I was right on the night."

He also said he is not a believer of giving the players too much instruction especially during the game and he only asked them to enjoy the match and play their best and it worked!

On the fluency of their attacks compared to the earlier match against Negeri Sembilan, he said it was because of the three midfielders he replaced in the starting line-up.

"I decided to put experience ahead of youth at the start as I want to make sure that we began the match well, and it is only in the second half that the young players are introduced and it definitely paid dividends," he said.

The one major concern for him now is the physical condition of some of the players where four players suffering from cramps during the Pahang match.

"I have sent out an SOS to fitness coach Sulaiman Arman to come onboard to help out on the fitness level of each of the players.

He is a well proven coach in that aspect. You only have to look at the current Reserve League players that are trained under him, they all are in top shape even after so many games played."

Justin also praised the performance of Zainizam Marjan who played the whole 90 minutes and his contribution in the match.

"I decided to use him from the start as I know of his capability and I am sure he has a point to prove to his critics as well.

Just look at the way he played in that match and it just showed that what a good player he still is even though he is one of the oldest in the squad."