ONG Kim Swee decided to take the bull by the horns when in September he accepted the tough job of turning the Rhinos around.
Sabah were then struggling in the Super League and the team also faced internal problems.
Many fans were curious whether former national coach Kim Swee could lift Sabah out of their doldrums.
Well, the answer was out over the weekend as Kim Swee ended Sabah's three-year wait in reaching the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals.
On Tuesday, Kim Swee's men carved out a 1-0 win over Petaling Jaya City in their final Group D match at Likas Stadium to clinch a ticket to the next round.
In a do-or-die game, Macedonian skipper Risto Mitrevski's penalty kick in the 20th minute was enough to beat PJ City.
Sabah will meet Group C champions Melaka in the two-legged quarter-finals on Nov 14 and Nov 18.
Kim Swee, who was FAM's technical director before accepting the Sabah job, played for them from 1994-1998
He said his players had the resoluteness to win the game though a dogged PJ City needed just a draw to advance to the last eight.
"The players played according to instructions and worked hard to defend our lead till the final whistle.
"It was not easy, we expected PJ City to press but we managed to defend well," said the 50-year-old coach.
"We didn't do much tactically in the second half. Our players did well to follow the game plan. We knew that once we took the lead, we would be under pressure but the players kept their focus."
Kim Swee said Melaka are tough quarter-final opponents, but he first needs to assess the condition of his players.
"It's another tough task, we had to play four matches in 14-15 days in the group stage, and now we have to play another two matches in four days."
Sabah, who finished ninth in the 12-team Super League, had started their Malaysia Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against PJ City and 2-2 with Kelantan before losing 2-0 and 3-0 to Johor Darul Ta'zim. They bounced back with a 2-1 win over Kelantan and 1-0 over PJ City.