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Monday, 23 January 2012

No extended Chinese New Year break for Perak squad

There is no rest for the wicked or the ambitious and Perak coach Norizan Bakar clearly subscribes to that.

His team edged Johor FC 1-0 in an away Super League match on Saturday, but they have been, with the exception of Chan Wing Hoong, ordered to turn up for training today.

If his players had been hoping for an extended break due to the Chinese New Year celebrations, and the fact that they are joint second in the standings with Terengganu, then they were disappointed.

Norizan knows that it is too early in the season to get carried away and is clearly not impressed that his team are just one point behind leaders Kelantan, who top the table with 10 points after four matches.

His mind is already on their next game – away to Felda United at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Malacca on Jan 28.

“There can be no let-up in our training if we are to maintain our momentum and stay among the frontrunners,” he said.

“Anyway, we only have one Chinese player so it’s not a big problem for the rest to get back to the grind.

“We still need to iron out the flaws in our game.”

Norizan was glad that his men managed to overcome Johor FC for their first away win. Perak began the season with a 1-0 home victory over Terengganu before going down to Selangor 1-0 at the Shah Alam Stadium. They bounced back to beat Negri 2-1 at home in their third outing.

“We went to Johor bent on collecting all three points,” Norizan said.

“We knew it wouldn’t be easy but we pulled it off because we were determined, disciplined and hardworking.”

All that means is more toil on the training pitch for the players.

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