Ambitious Negeri Sembilan FA have made qualification for the 2016 Malaysia Cup their first priority as they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the Malaysia Premier League (MPL) season.
Ahead of Friday's home match against ATM FA, Negeri can reflect on a solid start to their campaign in the Malaysian second tier, with one win and three draws from their opening four games.
But captain Taylor Regan -- one of four Australian imports and a former defender with the Newcastle Jets in the A-League -- admits that the Seremban-based side must start grabbing maximum points to push their Malaysia Cup claims.
Under a new system starting this year, the top five teams after 11 rounds in the MPL will qualify for the 2016 Malaysia Cup. Negeri currently sit in seventh spot, four points behind top of the table Kuala Lumpur FA.
"Negeri haven't been in the Malaysian Cup for a few years now so that's our first target," Regan told ESPN FC. "We've outplayed every opposition we've played so far in the Premier League but we've only got ourselves to blame for not getting the chocolates."
Negeri put in a respectable performance away to Malaysia Super League (MSL) champions Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) in the Malaysia FA Cup on March 4, losing 4-1 in front of a hostile crowd of more than 21,000, but stretching the Southern Tigers in the second half with ex-Melbourne Victory forward Andrew Nabbout getting on the scoresheet. Three weeks earlier, JDT lifted the 2016 Charity Shield, also at Larkin Stadium.
That game was the Jangs' sixth in 21 days -- with four away matches. Now, after a week off, they will be refreshed for the challenge of ATM, who were relegated from the MSL last season.
Coach Gary Phillips will have Mohd Afiq Azmi back from suspension after the ex-Selangor striker missed the match in Johor..
"I was very happy with the team's performance against JDT after so many games in a short time," Phillips said. "Once we improve our form in front of goal, we will hurt some teams."
Negeri Sembilan are three time winners of the Malaysia Cup, lifting the trophy in 1948, 2009 and 2011. But they were relegated from the MSL in 2013.
Regan said: "We set goals at the start of the year. Not just the playing group and the coaching staff but also the management, the fans. At the end of the season, the goal is promotion. Obviously an unbeaten start is good so we're on track, so we're fine."
The other Australians at Negeri Sembilan are ex-Sydney FC forward Joel Chianese and one-time Wellington Phoenix midfielder Alex Smith.
Chianese, who was with Sabah in the MPL last season, played upfront alongside Nabbout, with Smith in a deep playmaker role.
52-year-old Phillips took Sabah to promotion in the MSL in 2010 and won Australia's National Soccer League title as a player and a coach.