As pre-season trips go, Sarawak 2018 was definitely an experience.
It was pre-season Tony Popovic-style and that meant one thing for the players: hard work and lots of it.
The training sessions were as intense as the Malaysian heat and the attention to detail was clear to everyone, including those of us watching on from the sidelines rather than sweating it out on the pitch at the Stadium Negeri in Kuching.
In fact the only person arguably working harder than the Glory squad was the solitary groundsman charged with the Herculean task of power-washing the vast swathes of blackened and crumbling terracing which encircled three sides of the pitch.
As with most pre-season trips, the travelling party included a number of young up-and-comers as well as those expected to form the nucleus of the squad for the forthcoming A-League season.
Zayd Farah, Chok Dau, Henry Hore, Walter Scott, Jacob Italiano and Yagoub Mustafa were all on board, with the former scoring twice in the second tour game having previously earned rave reviews for performing a rousing Somalian folk song during his squad initiation.
The two fixtures against local opposition, it has to be said, were not as competitive as the coaching staff and possibly the players, would have liked.
Sarawak FA had finished well down the Malaysian Super League table in the previous season and when the two sides met on August 11th, Glory found themselves 1-0 up inside the opening two minutes as Diego Castro netted from the spot.
An own-goal and a brace from Jason Davidson had Glory in complete control by the break, but the story of the first half was the unfortunate and alarming facial injury sustained by Tando Velaphi as he saved at the feet of onrushing home striker Bobby Gonzales.
The hugely-popular goalkeeper came within milimetres of potentially losing the sight in his left eye and resembled a beaten and battered boxer as he recovered in Kuching Hospital before boarding an early flight back to Perth for further medical treatment.
While understandably distressed by Velaphi’s injury, the men in purple went on with the job when play resumed and two of the substitutes introduced by Popovic, Hore and Dau, both found the net.
Hore’s goal was the pick of the bunch, the young midfielder crashing home a first-time volley from the edge of the box, before Brendon Santalab made it 7-1 with almost the last kick of the game.
And thus, the inaugural Symposium Cup was secured and would return with the squad to Perth, but sadly the same could not be said of a remarkable nine-slice toaster which formed one of the main prizes in the half-time draw.
Training duly resumed in earnest ahead of the second game of the trip which would see Glory face a Sarawak State XI and the humidity continued to rise as short, torrential downpours swept in most afternoons.
Although R&R time remained very much at a premium, there was nonetheless a chance for at least one non-playing and history-loving member of the tour party to visit the nearby Fort Margherita which was constructed in 1879 to protect Kuching from pirates.
Visiting the fort involved crossing the Sarawak River in a traditional tambang boat which might have been a pleasurable experience had three extremely well-upholstered American tourists not decided to hop on board literally seconds before departure.
Already sitting worryingly low in the water, it was a miracle that the vessel managed to chug its way to the other side, the engine screaming, water sloshing over the bows and the crocodile warning signs dotted along the bank starting to take on an altogether greater level of significance.
Glory’s second fixture, in contrast, was largely worry-free as the Sarawak State Team were unable to provide much of a challenge.
The highlight of a very one-sided clash was 17-year-old Farah scoring a brace of headers as his side raced out to a 6-0 half-time lead.
With Popovic opting to make six changes at the break, Glory inevitably took their time to settle into the second 45 and were only able to add a single further goal through Mustafa as the home ‘keeper, resplendent in tracksuit pants, made a string of fine saves.
That second fixture brought the curtain down on a trip which would lay much of the foundation for the season to come, a season which did, of course, culminate in the club claiming the A-League Championship for the first time in its history.
#ONEGlory
