Terengganu registered their second away win of the season in the Malaysian Super League against Kuala Lumpur last night. However, due to the unavailability of the KLFA Stadium in Cheras, which was undergoing upgrading works the match was held at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
Thus it was an away match at home for the Turtles.
During the early part of the match, it was Kuala Lumpur who looked more at home on the newly laid turf of the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah. They had a free-kick landed on top of the Terengganu goal while loose marking by the 'away' side saw The City Boys being presented with a free header which they could not divert on target.
However, after a while Terengganu gradually began to find the rhythm and took the match to the 'home' side. In the 25th minute Abdul Manaf Mamat was fouled inside the penalty area and Ashaari Shamsuddin took the responsibility from 12 yards.
He hit the post with his effort but the rebound fell kindly to him and Ashaari duly turned the ball over the line. However the crowd's celebration was cut short when the referee disallowed the goal as the ball was yet to be touched by another player after Ashaari took the kick.
Terengganu continued to press and Abdul Hadi Yahya came close a couple of minute later but his shot was saved by KL goalkeeper, Norazlan Razali.
Then much to the surprise of many fans, Terengganu made their first substitution in the 36th minute when Head Coach, Irfan Bakti took out the out of sort Zharif Hasna and sent on Ismail Faruqi in his place.
With six minutes to go before the interval, Ashaari dribbled the ball from the left before passing it to Hadi who unleashed a shot beyond the diving Norazlan. It was Hadi's fourth goal in four consecutive match for The Turtles.
A minute later, there was a shout for penalty when Ashaari was brought down inside the box but the referee, Suhaizi Shukri waved play on. As the match drew to a close Terengganu continued to attack and from a free-kick, skipper Marzuki Yusof hit the wall with a stinging drive.
Then in added time Hadi cut inside from the left and squared the ball to Ashaari whose shot was saved for a corner. From the resulting corner Marzuki had a another go at a loose ball but his effort lacked power and direction.
The second half began on the same note with Terengganu controlling most of the match. Then in the 52nd minute an error by a KL defender saw Ashaari regaining possession and the forward darted into the penalty box.
Despite the attention from two KL defenders, Ashaari managed to swivel and unleashed a right foot shot which crept past Norazlan, who could have done better getting down to the ground. Terengganu were two goals to the good.
It should have been three five minutes later but after defender Ronny Harun managed to head down the ball into his path, fellow defender Helmi Remeli could only shoot into the side-netting.
After over an hour of play, KL were down to ten men when Ahmad Jihad Ismail was shown his second yellow card of the match for a foul on Joseph Kalang Tie. With a quarter of an hour to go Terengganu was forced to make another substitution when midfielder, Reeshafiq Alwi was hurt and was replaced by Safuan Adli Shaari.
Then with seven minutes to go a misunderstanding between goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee and defender Nik Zul Aziz Nawawi saw KL substitute, Yong Kuong Yong sneaking in between the two of them and headed the ball towards goal. Despite his desperate scramble Sharbinee just could not prevent the ball from rolling over the line.
It should have marked the signal of a comeback by KL but the match went flat after the goal as Terengganu held on to secure another three points and climbed to third in the Super League table, a position which should last for twenty four hours at least.
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