SIME Darby coach Ismail Zakaria is aware that improving on their fifth place finish in their Super League debut last season will be a difficult, but not impossible mission next year.
The Kuala Lumpur FA-affiliated club defied gloomy early season predictions with a superb run of form in the second half of the season in finishing ahead of more established teams like former league champions Kelantan and LionsXII.
For a club which began life in the third-tier FAM League in 2010, Sime Darby have come a long way but are still searching for a first major title having come so close in 2012, when they reached the FA Cup final.
Ismail, however, believes that Sime Darby are well equipped to compete with the teams with bigger spending power in the coming season.
“Obviously, it will be difficult to improve on last season when we finished finished fifth so we have set ourselves a target of finishing in the top half of the table," said Ismail when contacted yesterday in Penang where Sime Darby are playing friendly matches.
“We are not a big club and every year teams in the Super League spend more money to improve. And then you have big spenders like Police and Felda United coming up from the Premier League to make the Super League even more competitive.
“That’s not to say we can’t finish better than fifth but anywhere in the top-six will be good.”
Ismail ventured to the Balkans in the off-season to recruit three Serbian players in centre-back Ivan Dragicevic from Bosnian club Borac Banja Luka, midfielder Marko Perovic from Radnicki Kragujevac and forward Nemanja Vidakovic from Novi Pazar.
Sime Darby also signed six players from Negri Sembilan in defender Tengku Qayyum Ubaidillah Tengku Ahmad, midfielders Halim Zainal, Shoufiq Khusaini, Eddy Helmi Manan and Alif Samsudin and striker Firdaus Azizul while forward Nizad Ayud joined from Kuala Terengganu T-Team.
The club retained Uzbek playmaker Dilshod Sharofetdinov but lost regulars Fadzli Saari to Armed Forces and Arif Ismail to Perak.
“The new players are integrating well into the side and in our 3-0 defeat to Penang (on Monday) I chose to give some of our younger players a chance to stake their claim in the team,” said Ismail.
“With the start of the league delayed, we will have more time to prepare though I would have liked it to start sooner as everyone was raring to play.”
In earlier pre-season games, Sime Darby beat Malacca (7-2), Sabah (4-2) and Prisons (5-1) while drawing 1-1 with Young Tigers B. They played FAM League side Sungai Ara yesterday and will meet Negri Sembilan in Paroi on Tuesday.
SQUAD — Goalkeepers: Kamarul Effandi Abdul Rahim, Suffian Abdul Rahman, Redzuan Harun; Defenders: Azmirul Azmi, Rafizi Hamdan, Nashriq Yahya, Ivan Dragicevic, Tengku Qayyum Ubaidillah Tengku Ahmad, Yosri Dermaraju, Juzaili Samion, K. Prabakaran, Chairi Emmir Solehaddin Abu Bakar
Midfielders: Fahrul Razi Kamaruddin, Halim Zainal, Dilshod Sharofetdinov, Marko Perovic, Alif Samsudin, Shoufiq Khusaini, Khairul Anwar Shahrudin, Eddy Helmi Manan, Hafiszuan Salehuddin, Rafiq Shah Zaim, Nur Areff Kamaruddin, Dzulfahmi Hadi;
Forwards: Nizad Ayub, Nazrul Kamaruzaman, Firdaus Azizul, Nemanja Vidakovic, Hadzirun Che Hamid. By Devinder Singh