Terengganu went to the top of the Super League table for the first time this season after this hard fought victory over Felda United at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah last night. The position could shift after the completion of the weekend's programme with the top draw being title contenders Selangor entertaining Perak at the Shah Alam Stadium.
For The Turtles, the match against The Settlers was certainly a tough one with it coming just two days after the mental sapping 'Turtle' derby against PBDKT T-Team. Striker Abdul Hadi Yahya who was Terengganu's hero during the match with a fine goal, proved to be a match-winner once again with another wonderful strike just after over an hour of play.
This came after the visitors had managed to continually frustrate the home team with their pressing game and aided by Turtles who looked lethargic throughout. Terengganu players failed to display their usual passing game and with almost all moves broke down at one stage or the other.
The Settlers could consider themselves unlucky not to go two goals ahead in the first half when they hit the woodwork twice, the closest was when Bobby Chin pounced on a loose ball after Terengganu goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee had parried a long range shot by Azrul Ahmad.
They even had the ball in The Turtles' net towards the end of the first half but former Terengganu player, Liew Kit Kong's effort was not counted as the referee's assistant had risen his flag for offside against Azrul during the move. Sharbinee was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers on the pitch.
In the second half Terengganu began to pull themselves together and began to look dangerous. However the Felda defence stood their ground and managed to repel these attacks.
The moment that turned the match around came in the 62nd minute when Felda failed to clear their line properly. When Joseph Kalang found Hadi with a lot of space, the striker had nothing but goal on his mind as he struck a right foot shot which dipped into the top corner, beating Felda goalkeeper, Hamsani Ahmad all the way.
The Turtles tried to increase their lead but in the end had to settle for this single goal victory which was enough to propel them to the Super League summit, even it was just for a twenty four hour period, at least for the time being.
Reflecting on the match, Terengganu Head Coach, Irfan Bakti admitted that his players were not at their best last night. Many were suffering from fatigue especially after playing in the 'Turtle' derby against T-Team. As one could have expected, playing in derby matches could take a lot on players.
Furthermore the way the fixtures are arranged by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) competition committee, it is certainly far from ideal for good quality football to be played throughout the season. The current fixture which started on 2 April (after the international break) teams will play one match every three days until 24 May. A total of 16 matches in 50 days.
Unless a team has a good strength in depth in their squad, any hope of consistently producing top class performance would be out of question. This is an aspect that FAM have to take note in order to increase the quality of football in this country.
For Terengganu fans, let enjoy this moment and hope it will last till the end of the season.
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