Terengganu scored three goals again when they met Perak at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium last night. This time there was no reply from The Buffaloes. However despite the score, Norizan Bakar's men were not completely outplayed by the Turtles though.
A win for Terengganu would see them returning to second spot on the Super League table. Thus the home side made their intention clear early in the match with several forays into the Perak penalty area. However Perak custodian, Nasril Nourdin proved to be a huge stumbling block for Terengganu as he made several saves in keeping the score at nil-nil.
Terengganu however were not to be denied. After fifteen minutes, their top-scorer, Abdul Hadi Yahya latched onto a through pass from midfield. He took the ball with a wonderful close control and prodded it past Nasril. It seemed like forever but finally the ball rolled over the line and Sultan Ismail erupted with joy as fans celebrated the goal, which was Hadi's twelfth goal of the season.
The Turtles continued to put pressure on Perak defence but the visitors managed to keep the score at one-nil going into the interval. They even came close several times with Noor Hazrul putting his efforts from dead ball situations just wide of the mark.
Eight minutes into the second half Terengganu suffered a setback when influential skipper, Marzuki Yusof had to leave the field due to an injury sustained in the first half. His replacement, Mazlizam Mohamad quickly made his presence felt with a header that just went above the bar from a corner.
Going into the hour mark, Perak tried hard to level things up. Their coach, Norizan Bakar made the switch by replacing Shafiq Jamil with with the more direct and physical style of Razali Umar Kandasamy.
However, it was Terengganu who found the back of the net again. This time through midfielder Reeshafiq Alwi who was put through by Abdul Manaf Mamat in the 67th minute. He finished smartly with the outside of his right boot leaving Nasril picking up the ball from the back of his net for the second time last night.
Then twelve minutes from time Abdul Manaf, who himself was going through a lean spell in front of goal for five matches now; broke through on the left. His cut back eventually fell to Hadi who unleashed a shot which proved too hot to handle for Nasril.
Joseph Kalang Tie who did the follow-up swung at the loose ball which hit the roof of the net. It was an emotional moment for the Sarawak born forward as it was his first goal of the season. To make it even sweeter for him, Joseph's family were watching from the stands.
There was no way back for Perak and despite their late pressure on Terengganu defence, failed to ruin Sharbinee's fifth clean sheet of the season. The win saw The Turtles leap-frog Kelantan into second place, four points behind Selangor who also won 2-1 in Kota Kinabalu against Sabah.
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