Wins for Kedah and NS

Last night Super League matches saw Kedah and Negeri Sembilan registered victories over their respective opponents. The Canaries, fresh from qualifying to the FA Cup semi-finals, registered only their second league win of the season at the Darul Aman by beating Perak 3-0.

Photo by: Norazmi Ibrahim | Dunia Sukan Online

Their import player, Mohammed Hamidan continued his scoring streak by grabbing a brace bringing his tally to four goals in his last two matches. Perak player Mohamad Syazwan was the other goalscorer in the match, unfortunately it was in the wrong net when he accidently diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper.

At the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka, Negeri Sembilan recorded only their second away win against bottom side Kuala Lumpur, who are yet to win a single match this season. The win lifted Azrai Khor's men to fifth place in the Super League table.

Meanwhile in the Premier League, league leaders Pahang and the Armed Forces suffered surprise defeats against the Royal Malaysian Police and POS Malaysia respectively. The Elephants lost 3-2 in Temerloh against The Cops while the Armed Forces went 2-0 down at home to the Postmen.

FA Cup semi-finalist Sime Darby FC continued their winning form by thrashing NS Betaria FC 5-0 while in Johor Bahru, Johor also recorded a big win with a 4-1 demolition of Muar Municipal Council at the Larkin Stadium.

Harimau Muda and Johor Bahru City Council shared the spoils in a goalless draw at the Nasional Stadium while USM FC notched all three points against Perlis when they won 2-1 at the Utama Stadium in Kangar.


...

Manaf The Hero in Vietnam

Abdul Manaf Mamat emerged as the hero as Terengganu began their maiden AFC Cup campaign on a winning note. The striker's strike in the 51st minute was enough to bring all three points home from their encounter against Vietnamese champions, Song Lam Nghe An at Vinh Stadium in Vinh, a north-eastern city in Vietnam.

The home side was the early aggressor with their Tobagan player, Hughton Hector coming close in the opening stage to put his team ahead after just five minutes but could not keep his header down after cleverly sneaking behind the Terengganu defence.

The match then turned into a midfield battle with neither team managed to gain control of the ball for long. Five minutes before the interval, Francis Doe tested the Song Lam goalkeeper, Tran Nguyen Manh with a dipping shot which forced him to tip the ball over the bar.

Then five minutes after the restart Doe saw the run made by Manaf and found him with a wonderful pass. The striker kept his composure and managed to slot the ball past Nguyen Manh and the Terengganu bench jumped with joy.

Terengganu goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee did not have much to do but showed he was equal to anything the home side threw at him. After denying Pham Van Quyem in the first half from a free-kick, he also kept out another attempt from a dead ball situation which was going in until his intervention.

The Turtles also had their chance to increase the lead when Manaf was freed with just Nguyen Manh to beat but the goalkeeper dived bravely at the striker's feet to deny him a second goal.

Song Lam was presented with a chance to level the score when Muslim misread a high ball into the box leaving Hector with a clear route on goal with just Sharbinee to beat. Fortunately for the defender, the Tobagan striker could not hit the target with his effort.

In the end Terengganu held on to register a win on a historical day.

In another Group F match, Hong Kong League champions, Kitchee SC defeated Tampines Rovers FC 3-1 at home with goals coming from Liang Zi-cheng's brace and another one from Jordi. Mohamad Ali levelled the score briefly for The Stags.


...

Turtles Charting New Territories

Birthday Boy Abdul Hadi Yahya will be looking for some presents in Vinh today

Terengganu will find themselves in a rather unfamiliar territory today, literally and metaphorically when they take on Song Lam Nghe Ahn (SLNA) in the opening match of 2012 AFC Cup competition, Group F.

Playing in Vinh, a city in the north-eastern part of Vietnam, the surroundings would be very unfamiliar to the ones the players used to when they are playing in the Malaysian Super League. With the climate expected to be cooler than at home and a partisan home support, it will be a new experience for most in the Terengganu squad.

Being their first foray into continental competition, Terengganu are really in uncharted waters.

However, with the squad comprising of Malaysian internationals such as Sharbinee Allawee, Muslim Ahmad, Faizal Mohamad, Mazlizam Mohamad, Zubir Azmi, Shukur Jusoh, Ashaari Shamsuddin, Abdul Hadi Yahya and Abdul Manaf Mamat; The Turtles are expected to be adaptable to the situation.

Adding to the equation, the experience of Francis Doe and Biaiano playing their trade in top class league before coming to Terengganu, it is expected they will be able to get the necessary result in Vinh in order to make a good start to the competition.

SLNA on the other hand are the reigning Vietnam League Champions and have played in the Asian Champions League before in 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. Last season they managed to get through to the second round of the AFC Cup but lost to Indonesian club, Persipura.

Currently they are lying fifth in the Vietnamese Super League after eight matches. They are on an unbeaten run but could only register two wins so far, and only one of them was at home. Thus Terengganu could be looking at a draw at least in this fixture.

SLNA's main threat would come from their import trio, forwards Gustave Bebbe and Abbas Cheikh Dieng and playmaker Hughton Hector. Apart from the three, the defence will be marshalled by the experienced, Nguyen Huy Hoang while local fans would be looking to Nguyen Trong Hoang and Pham Van Quyen to provide the thrust to their attack.

Ganuans are definitely looking for their beloved Turtles to bring home all three points but with this being their first continental tournament, a point from a good performance would be enough to instil confidence for their next match against Hong Kong side Kitchee on March 20 at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium.

Go Ganu!

...

Serpa's Title

Jose Serpa reclaimed the Le Tour de Langkawi title he last won in 2009 after finishing first overall after ten stages in one of Asia premier cycling competition. The Colombian who rode for the Venezuelan team, Androni Giacattoli claimed two stage wins, the fifth from Ayer keroh to Pandan Indah and the subsequent one from Shah Alam where he showed everyone that he is still the 'King of the Mountains'.

He then only needed to ensure he finish among the front bunch to ensure of his victory. In the end he did what was required and finished thirty seconds ahead of his team-mate, Jose Rujano who had to settle for second place while Azad University Iran rider, Victor Nino Corridor took the third place.

The race which ended for the first time in Kuala Terengganu also saw Serpa did the 'double' after he also took the 'King of the Mountain' title ahead of Matteo Rabottini of Farnese Vini - Selle Italia and also Rujano.

Rabottini's team-mate, Andrea Guardini meanwhile took the 'Sprint King' title after amassing a total of 94 points, nine points more than second place winner, Valentin Iglinskiy of Team Astana. Jacobe Keough of Team United Healthcare finished in third with 79 points.

Guardini also became the first rider to win six stages in a single series of the LTdL.

In the Asian classification, Alexndr Dyachenko of Team Astana finished as the highest Asian rider followed by Ghader Mizbani of Tabriz Petrochemical and Dyachenko team-mate, Andrey Zeits in second and third place respectively. Malaysian riders, Mohamad Adiq Husaini Othman who rode for Champions System and Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) rider, Mohamad Saufi Mat Senan were classified in fourth and fifth place respectively.

As expected, Androni Giacattoli took the overall team title with Team Astana in second. The latter were classified first in the Asian Category while TSG finished as the third best Asian Team behind them and Tabriz Petrochemical. The Malaysian National Team meanwhile finished in sixth place in the same classification.

...

Turtles Win in Melaka

Terengganu struggled to register a 1-0 win over bottom side, Kuala Lumpur at the Hang Jebat Stadium last night as the Super League 2012 resumed after the international break. The only goal of the match came courtesy of Liberian striker, Francis Doe who latched onto a long clearance by goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee before holding off challenges from to 'home' players to slot home past goalkeeper, Rozaimee Rohim.

The win took Terengganu to second place, equal on points with Kelantan but with The Stags having a better goal difference than their East Coast rivals. T-Team who registered a 1-0 win over Sarawak to go second on Friday are now in third place, equal on points with Perak but having a better goal difference.

The Buffaloes had to thank Michal Kubala's sixth goal of the season when his penalty helped them to a 2-2 draw with PKNS FC at the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya. The home side went a head through Helmi Remeli before Fazli Hazli Kadri equalised for the visitors three minutes before the interval.

Faudzan Zulkifli restored PKNS' lead ten minutes into the second half but they could not hang on to the lead as Kubala's strike ten minutes from time meant both teams had to share the spoils.

In Kota Kinabalu, Arturo Bernhard shocked the home fans with a goal going into the half hour mark to give his new team, Johor FC the lead. However it did not last long as Rozaimi Abdul Rahman got things equal again three minutes later. The Hawks completed their comeback through Shahrudin Yaakup who scored the winner ten minutes from time.

In Alor Setar, French forward Abdulfateh Safi converted the penalty awarded to his team three minutes from time as Kedah registered their first win of the season at the Darul Aman Stadium. The win over Selangor took Kedah out of the bottom two in the Super League at the expense of Felda United who are playing Lions XII on Tuesday.

League leaders Kelantan will take on Negeri Sembilan tonight in Kota Bharu.


...

T-Team Triumph Over Crocs

PBDKT T-Team jumped into second spot in the Super League table after registering a hard fought 1-0 win over Sarawak at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu last night. The only goal of the match came in the 67th minute through Faiz Subri.

The former Perlis player cut inside from the left after receiving a pass from his skipper Zairo Anuar Zalani before unleashing his now trade-mark right foot shot from the edge of the penalty area which had Sarawak goalkeeper, Sani Anuar completely beaten.

The match was largely played in the middle of the park with both teams finding it hard to get their final passes right. The tempo was slow with a lot of side-way passes. Sarawak who were defending most of the time with their skipper Guy Bwele doing a good job protecting his back four and at the same time tried to set up quick counter-attacks.

However, T-Team defence led by Norfazly Alias and Bojan Petric kept the visitors' threat of Vedran Muratoviv at bay. However, The Crocs could have snatched a point late in the match when they managed to open up the home defence but their player could only shoot straight at goalkeeper Syamsuri Mustaffa.

Sarawak coach, Robert Alberts refused to blame luck on his side's defeat, instead pointing out that the better team won the match.

...

Turtles Tied...

...by Canaries

The second visit by Kedah to Kuala Terengganu this season saw them continuing their tag as Terengganu's bogey team after holding the host to a 1-1 draw at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium. On the opening day of the season, The Canaries were convincingly beaten 3-0 by PBDKT T-Team, a bad start to the season which saw them collecting just seven points from eight matches so far.

The draw saw Terengganu dreams of going on top of the Super League were dashed again. They could have been the new league leaders at the expense of Kelantan and Perak who were all suffered defeats last night at the hands of Selangor and Lions XII respectively. In the end Terengganu remained in third place, equal on points with the Lions XII but having a better goal difference.

Terengganu came into the match at the back of two matches without a win, the last being a 2-1 defeat against fellow title challenger Kelantan in Kota Bharu on Saturday. Kedah on the other hands were on a good roll of results which saw them picking up their first win against Kuala Lumpur and taking a point off Sabah in Alor Setar.

Without their influential skipper, Mazuki Yusof who was suspended for the match, Terengganu fans were worried that their defence could not contain the new foreign duo in the Kedah line-up; Abdul El-Fatah Safi and Mohamad Hamidan. But the defensive partnership of Hasmizan Kamarodin and Muslim Ahmad did their job well.

However, their forward line of Abdul Manaf Mamat, Ashaari Shamsuddin and Francis Doe found the going was tough against a Kedah side contented on sitting back in numbers, absorbing the pressure and hitting the opponents on the break.

The tactic seemed to backfire when Ashaari's individual skill saw him finding space and time to unleash a shot which flew past Kedah goalkeeper, Helmi Eliza to give Terengganu the lead which they took into the interval.

The start to the second half was then delayed when the stadium's floodlight failed, plunging the arena into darkness. The match was eventually restarted after twenty minutes and Terengganu went into the offensive in search for the second goal.

Unfortunately their failure to deliver the telling pass in the final third proved to be the downfall when El-Fatah managed to find space and time on the left to deliver a cross which was headed home by an unmarked Khyril Muhymeen.

Meanwhile at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka, PBDKT T-Team notched their second consecutive victory with a 3-0 win over Felda United. Faiz Subri scored a brace while skipper Zairo Anuar Zalani's successful strike from the penalty spot took his tally to eight goals this season.

The win saw T-Team moved to fifth place in the standings at the expense of Negeri Sembilan who were forced to share the spoils by draw specialist, PKNS FC. The match at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium ended in a 1-1 draw.

Johor FC remained winless at home after their latest outing at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council Stadium against Sarawak ended with yet another defeat. The Crocs posted a 2-1 win to leapfrog The Bees into eighth place while the home side dropped to tenth. Sabah 2-1 home win over bottom side Kuala Lumpur saw them moved up to eleventh.


...