ALOR SETAR, Sept 25 — Kedah team coach, Mohd Nidzam Adzha Yusoff said the win over Selangor was not due to luck but the hard work put in by the team all this while to ensure they book a slot in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Cup.

"We look at the first quarter-final match in Selayang where we put in three goals. Our mission was not to let in any goal, and we were successful. So, it’s not accurate for some to write that we won out of luck,” he told reporters after the match, here, last night.

Mohd Nidzam, who was satisfied with his players’ performance, said he was especially appreciative of players like Baddrol Bakhtiar, Mohd Rizal Mohd Ghazali and Syazwan Zainol who were willing to play to help the team despite being injured.

"Salute to my players, especially the national players who came back to play despite carrying injuries and playing in pain. They played all out and definitely the Kedah camp are satisfied with the victory tonight which qualifies us for the semi-finals.

"The doctors did not allow the three players to play. However, they were willing to take injections, medicine and trained extremely hard to be with the team to face Selangor,” he said.

Kedah qualified for the semi-finals of the Malaysia Cup competition after winning narrowly 1-0 over Selangor (4-2 on aggregate).

Mohd Nidzam said the coaching camp and himself would look at resting the injured players so that they would recover fully to continue with the Super League competition before the first semi-final meeting on Oct 13/14.

"We must look at the schedule again if we need to rest the injured players like we did for the match against Felda in the Super League. We will rest them to heal their injuries and fitness levels to face the important match,” he said.

Mohd Nidzam believes that with the performance shown by the players and their improving teamwork, they would be able to do their best in the semi-final game as Kedah were expected to field all their top players.

Meanwhile, Selangor chief coach, P. Maniam said he was happy with his players’ pattern of play despite losing to Kedah. 

"Overall, I can say the players played well and we created many chances, especially in the second half with the entry of Andik (Vermansah). However, we could not score any goal as Kedah were playing well with dangerous counter attacks, besides the penalty which Kedah successfully took earlier,” he said.

He hoped his players would rise from this to face Melaka in the Super League competition. — Bernama