Dollah pleased to win despite missing key players

The Pahang head coach was extremely proud with his charges who proved that they are not reliant on certain individuals to achieve success.

Pahang went into the match against PKNP FC at the Manjung Municipal Stadium without three of their first choice players in Muslim Ahmad and Herald Goulon with Saddil Ramdani only fit enough to be on the bench. That left Dollah Salleh without his first choice centre back pairing for the match but their replacements showed they were up to the task.

Bunyamin Omar and Afif Amiruddin came into the defence and they shut out PKNP for Pahang to emerged 0-3 winners on the night. A win that saw them better Kedah's goal difference which allowed them to overtake The Red Eagles in the league standings and maintained the two points gap to leaders Johor Darul Ta'zim.

Early goals from Ze Eduardo in the first half and Dickson Nwakaeme set Pahang on their way with Norshahrul Idlan Talaha's second half goal proving to be the icing on the cake. Dollah praised the fight which PKNP showed and pinpointed the Nwakaeme goal as the one that finally tilted the game in their favour

"Thankfully we scored the early goal because in the first half we were put under a lot of pressure. Our shape without the ball was very good and despite missing 3 of our key players, we were able to still play in the manner that we want."

"I think the second goal killed PKNP's game as they started to crumble, we took advantage of that to add to the goals. My players showed more confidence in the second half, something totally different to when we faced Selangor last time," said Dollah in the post-match press conference.

Pahang will host Kedah in their next match back in their home comforts of Darul Makmur Stadium on March 8 where they are hoping to continue their unbeaten start to the 2019 season. However, Dollah will have shuffle his side again for that one as Eduardo will be missing due to him picking up the yellow card limit that comes with an automatic suspension.

In the two home games that they have played thus far this season, Pahang have won once and drawn the other. Terengganu FC were handed a 3-0 beating on February 9 while Selangor held them to a 1-1 draw on February 24.