Shalih looks ahead with confidence

Salem Fire – Muhd Shalih measured up Salem Fire’s situation after the Fires saw their wishes for the top of the table stay completely dashed with a loss against Church of Ephipany and last week's draw with Saved By Jesus. ‘Right now there is not a lot to say, but there is lots to do,’ declared Shalih upon his arrival at the Thomson Hills Drive with the rest of the team. ‘We have really tried to turn things around. We are working hard to achieve our goals and to get over this difficult moment.’
The skipper is looking to continue on in this season with the confident wisdom of experience: ‘In recent weeks there hasn’t been a lot of consistency in the results, that's really where the problem lies. But if you look at the past years, there were also games that didn’t go well and then we recovered.’
The skipper is certain that at this time Salem Fire cannot but react because time is running out: ‘Now the motivation must increase because the possibility of winning something is decreasing. We are doing well in the league, perhaps not well enough for the title but for second place which is also important. And this will help us to perform better in the upcoming Salem Cup games.’
Shalih doesn’t worry about putting the blame on individuals or on the different units: ‘I will only talk about the team as a whole because each unit relies on the others.’ Neither does he tolerate the idea that Salem Fire aren’t motivated: ‘When the results aren’t there, then everyone has something to say or some reason to give. We, however, know how hard we have been working. It’s just too bad that sometimes in sports that’s not enough and when the results don’t arrive people start to talk. Especially about the referee. Now we just need to look ahead and be consistent.’