Bogey Team Held Turtles

A depleted Terengganu side failed to find their way past a defensive Johor FC and thus had to settle for a point from their Super League encounter at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium last night. The goalless draw meant Kelantan and the Lions XII were able to widen the gap between themselves and the Turtles.

Kelantan thrashed hapless Felda United 5-1 at the Sultan Mohamad IV Stadium in Kota Bharu while the Lions defeated PBDKT T-Team 2-1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore. There are now a five point gap between The Turtles and the league leaders, Kelantan.

Terengganu were without the service of their topscorer, Francis Doe who was serving a one match suspension following his three cautions this season. In his place was last season Super League topscorer, Abdul Hadi Yahya.

Apart from Doe, Terengganu were also deprived of the service of Abdul Manaf Mamat who was nursing an ankle injury. Joseph Kalang Tie was also suffering from a toe injury but was named as one of the substitutes. In his place was Shamsul Kamal who only returned from an injury himself.

As expected, it was the home side which dominated the proceedings. Shamsul managed to get the ball in the back of the net when Johor FC goalkeeper, Anis Faron failed to hold the ball but a questionable decision by the linesman robbed the former T-Team player of his first goal for the Turtles.

The Turtles managed to find the net again in the second half but this time the effort by Mazlizam Mohamad was correctly ruled off as the player was in an offside position when he collected the loose ball following a free-kick.

The introduction oh Joseph Kalang Tie in the second half also could not help Terengganu finding their way past the Johor FC defence and in the end it was a disappointed night for The Turtles and their fans who now have gone through two matches without a win and a goal.

At the Jalan Besar Stadium, Zairo Anuar Zalani notched his tenth goal of the season in all competitions with a fine strike to bring things level in the 54th minutes after the Lions have gone ahead through a fine run and cool finish by Shahril Ishak three minutes earlier.

The Lions' skipper then missed a penalty when a foul was committed in the box by Mohamad Dzaidin on Madhu Mohana. The visitors were looking good for a point until Norfazly Alias committed another foul inside the penalty box. This time on Agu Casmir.

Following Shahril earlier substitution, Shahdan Sulaiman stepped up to the plate and sent Mohamad Iqbal the wrong way as the Lions collected all three points to keep up with the leaders, Kelantan.

The Stags were on the rampage following their 5-1 demolition of Felda United in Kota Bharu. Onyekachi Nwoha's brace sandwiched Azrul Ahmad's equalizer for The Settlers but further strikes in the second half from Norfarhan Muhammad, Indra Putra Mahyuddin and Bahdri Radzi saw the home fans going home in jubilant mood.

Sarawak notched only their second away win of the season but a 4-1 thrashing of draw specialist, PKNS FC would give them the confident to do better in the second round of matches in the Super League. Shahrul Saperi opened the scoring with Vedran Muratinovic also getting on the scoring act while Ashri Chuchu scored a brace. Mohamad Khairu Azrin replied for the Selangor club side.

In Kota Kinabalu, Selangor found themselves trailing to Sabah after a Michael Baird's strike put the Hawks in front. Unfortunately the home side failed to hold on to the lead as the Red Giants scored the equaliser through P Gunalan.

...

Another Comeback...

...by The Turtles.

Terengganu made a strong second half comeback to win 3-1 after falling behind against bottom team, Perlis in their 2011 Super League match at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah last night. It seemed the incident of falling behind is becoming a trade-mark for The Turtles who already made eight positive comebacks from their 17 league matches so far.

They also have made late rallies in their away defeats to Selangor and Perak (FA Cup) while against Kedah they were unlucky not coming away with a more positive result.

Against Perlis, Head Coach, Irfan Bakti chose to field Mazlizam Mohamad and Ronny Harun while resting influential skipper, Marzuki Yusof. It was quite a strange decision by the experienced coach as he was already without regular, Hasmizan Kamarodin who was given an extended leave to be with his wife for the delivery of their child.

Thus it was not really a surprise when the new partnership failed to gel effectively which led to The Northern Lions scoring their goal by Nik Shahrul Hanizam when he capitalised on a defensive mix-up. Instead of introducing Marzuki, it was Abdul Manaf Mamat who was sent on in place of the beleaguered Ahmad Nordin Alias.

It was perhaps a tactical reshuffle as from the line-up, it was more like a 4-5-1 formation with Abdul Hadi Yahya playing as a lone striker. Introducing Abdul Manaf changed the formation to the more familiar 4-4-2 formation again.

However, it was the lack of sharpness of the Terengganu players that saw them playing below par as quite a number of passes went astray despite having a lion share of possession. This prompted uncivilized fans to hurl abuse at the players when they should be giving them encouragement to try harder.

These fans might as well stay away as their presence merely provoke stress to the players who were trying their best under conditions which were not helping them to consistently give their best in every match. The Perlis match was their tenth match in thirty days.

Irfan Bakti's attempt to rotate his squad seemed to backfire which gave credence to his statement that his squad does not have adequate strength in depth to give his players enough rest between matches.

Fortunately his striker Abdul Manaf who was in the midst of a dry spell in front of goal found his scoring touch back with a brace in the second half, sandwiching a strike by another player who have not found the back of the net in the last six matches, Ashaari Shamsudin.

Abdul Manaf first strike came nine minutes into the second half when he latched onto a through pass and finished the move with a low shot that left Perlis goalkeeper, Amini Ahmad Tabarani helpless. Then in the 68th minute Ashaari darted on a solo run past several Perlis defenders which ended with him beating Amini with another low shot.

Then in the 76th minute Abdul Hadi Yahya broke in from the right and sent in a low ball. Abdul Manaf anticipation was spot on as he connected with it to beat Amini at his near post. It could have been four and a ht-trick for Abdul Manaf but his wonderful header from a cross by Reeshafiq Alwi was ruled off-side by the referee assistant.

The win maintained Terengganu pressure on the two teams at the top of the 2011 Super League table. Kelantan won 1-0 at Johor FC while Selangor overcame Kuala Lumpur in Cheras with a 3-1 scoreline.



...

Poor, Poor...

...Perlis.

Kelantan moved into second place in the 2011 Malaysian Super League when they completed a double over Perlis at the Sultan Mohamad IV Stadium last night. The 4-0 win came after the two sides had met in Kangar on Tuesday where The Northern Lions were humiliated 5-1 by The Stags.

The win saw Kelantan reduced the deficit to league leaders Selangor to just two points. In view of the Red Giants trip to Sabah tonight it is a good way to put a little pressure on K Devan's boys ahead of their match against the Rhinos, who so far have been on good form at home.

Terengganu and Perak who shared the points in Ipoh on Tuesday are also hoping for a win to keep up with the leaders. The Turtles will retake second place if they win tonight, a result which will leave the Buffaloes further behind in the title race.

When the two sides met in the FA Cup quarter-finals last month, Terengganu won the match 3-1 to overturn the first leg deficit and qualify for the last four where they will be meeting Pahang next month. A similar result will see the home fans going home happy tonight.

Meanwhile another Terengganu team, PBDKT T-Team which travel to Pasir Gudang to meet Johor FC will be hoping to record their first win in three matches. Their resurrection which saw them beating Kelantan and Selangor earlier this month seemed to have petered out since losing the 'Turtle' derby against Terengganu which followed by the easy defeat at Kuala Lumpur.

A draw will be a good result against The Bees at their hive but a win will certainly be a bonus for this long trip down south by Yunus Alif's boys.



...

All Tied...

...Up!

Last night saw the last round of matches were played in the 2011 Super League first round. The big winners were Selangor who pulled four points clear at the top of the league charts after being forced to work hard by Sabah at the Shah Alam Stadium.

This was after their nearest challengers, Terengganu and Perak cancelled each other out at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh by playing to a 1-1 draw. The Turtles remained second while The Buffaloes dropped to fourth after Kelantan halted their win-less run with a 5-1 demolition of Perlis in Kangar to climb to third spot.

At the Perak Stadium, the home side went ahead after eight minutes when Shafiq Jamil's attempt from a corner was judged by the referee to have crossed the Terengganu goal line. The Turtles levelled the score in the second half when Abdul Hadi Yahya converted a penalty for his eleven goal of the season.

 Photo credit to: hesome-yob4ever

The spot kick was awarded after Ashaari Shamsudin was brought down inside the penalty area even though Perak players protested that the foul was committed outside of it. In the end both teams had to share the spoils from this encounter.

Meanwhile PBDKT T-Team also stopped their losing run by drawing 1-1 with Johor FC at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu. Defender Shahrul Ezrain gave the Kuala Terengganu club side a dream start with a goal after ten minutes but T-Team failed to find the visitors' back of the net again during the match.

A number of chances fell to Indra Putra Mahyudin, Haris Safwan, Zairo Anuar and Shamsul Kamal but almost all their attempts failed to find their target or were blocked by The Bees defenders.

They were made to pay when three minutes into the second half, T-Team defenders failed to react when a corner was delivered into their box and Shahrizal Mohamad Saad took full advantage to head home the equaliser.

The second half saw T-Team continued struggling to breach the visitors defence. Towards the end of the match Indra Putra was seen pushed by a Johor FC defender when they were competing for a high ball inside the box.

The referee played the advantage but when the advantage did not come to anything, T-Team defender Azizi Matt Rose protested that a penalty should have been given to his team. However his protest came to no avail.

Then Azizi himself got into trouble when he brought down a Johor FC player as the latter was bearing down on T-Team's goal during a quick counter-attack. The referee gleefully reached for his pocket and flashed the one coloured red. The task of winning the match looked harder for the home side.

However credit to them as they continued to push the issue but once again poor finishing let them down. Zairo could have given T-Team all three points when a free-kick was awarded to T-Team at the edge of Johor FC penalty area but from an acute angle.

He managed to find the target but Terengganu born goalkeeper Suhardy Alby palmed away his shot and by the end both teams had to be content with a point each.

Teams are going to play the reverse of last night's fixtures to mark the beginning of the second round of matches in the 2011 Malaysian Super League.


...

Pipped to Second...

...by the Red Giants.

Terengganu's stay at the top of the Super League was cut short by Selangor after the Red Giants won against another title contender, Perak at the Shah. Safiq Rahim scored the match only goal and put his team two points clear of The Turtles.

Perak, which could go to the top themselves if they managed to collect all three points at Shah Alam remained in third. They now will face The Turtles in a double header to mark the end of the first round of matches in the Super League on Tuesday in Ipoh.

Then they will travel to Kuala Terengganu for the first match in the second round. As a Ganuan, of course mad redo1 will be hoping for all six points to be collected by Terengganu in order to keep up the pressure on the league leader, Selangor.

But it would not be an easy task with both teams winning their home match when they met in the last eight of the FA Cup competition last month. A win in Ipoh for Terengganu will be considered as a bonus for Terengganu as to come away with a point is a more realistic target.

Hopefully the extra day of rest, having played their match on Friday will do the Terengganu players a world of good as they need to be at their best in order to get a good result in Ipoh.

When they recorded three wins in succession, many thought T-Teams had finally found their winning rhythm. But defeat in the 'Turtle' derby against Terengganu seemed to affect the morale of the T-Team players.

Their display against Kuala Lumpur at the KLFA Stadium was woeful to say the least. Conceding three 'schoolboys' goals in a period of less than five minutes left them with a mountain climb. As expected they never recover after that despite managing to pull one back through Indra Putra Mahyuddin before the first half is over.

The result saw T-Team going down a place to eighth in the Super League table, equal on points and goal difference with their conquerors, Kuala Lumpur. But the Terengganu club side had scored more goals then the City Boys.

T-Team will end their first round campaign against Johor FC on Tuesday in Kuala Terengganu and visit Pasir Gudang for their return match next Saturday. As a Ganuan mad redo1 will be hoping for T-Team to rediscover their winning ways again.

...

Canaries Pecked Turtles...

...Again!

Terengganu suffered their second defeat of the season when Kedah staged a comeback at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar on Saturday night. Midfielder Reeshafiq Alwi opened his goal account for The Turtles after half an hour of play with a stunning volley from outside the penalty box.

However, Terengganu who playing without the injured skipper Marzuki Yusof in defence could not contain the home side attack and two quick goals from Khyrel Muhymeen and former Turtle, Firdaus Faudzi in a four minutes spell in the 64th and 67th minutes brought back the cheers to the home side, whose team was under the supervision of Radhi Mat Din for the first time after Ahmad Yusof was given his 'leave'.

In Kuala Terengganu, PBDKT T-Team and Perak could not lift themselves to find the rhythm to display good football in front of the home crowd, which totalled to less than a thousand, perhaps influenced by the rain that has been coming down for the past few days.

In a dour match, unbeaten Perak were let down by their poor finishing. Their best chance came midway through the first half when their striker, having beaten goalkeeper, Syamsuri Mustafa could only send the ball into the side-netting.

The best chance for T-Team came towards the end of the first half during an a spell which saw they dominated the match, striker Haris Safwan's effort was cleared off the line by the Perak defence.

In the end, both teams had to settle for a nil-nil scoreline.

Terengganu and Perak dropped to fifth and fourth respectively in the Super League table after this round of fixtures. Kedah climbed to eighth while T-Team remained second from bottom of the table.

On the night which saw leaders Kelantan's unbeaten record came to an end in Kuantan, it was a big opportunity for Perak take the lead at the top of the table. However, as it turned out Kelantan remained at the top of the pile but now they were joined by last season Premier League champions, Felda United and defending Super League champions, Selangor on fourteen points.

Pahang registered their third win to climb to sixth, even though for many it was rather unexpected against the high riding Stags. Negeri Sembilan's season turned for the worse after their home defeat against Selangor, which would turn more heat on coach Wan Jamak.

Johor FC and Kuala Lumpur played to a scoreless draw the day before and the match between Sabah and Harimau Muda 'A' was postponed due to unplayable pitch even though there were reports of the match being awarded to the Young Tigers.

...

Army Defeated...

...at Selayang.

Terengganu booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian FA Cup competition with a tight 3-2 scoreline against the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium in an afternoon kick-off yesterday.

Terengganu striker Abdul Hadi Yahya found the net for the sixth match in succession while a brace from Ashaari Shamsudin gave Terengganu two goal leads before ATM managed to reduce the score to just a single goal deficit on two occasions through Fatrurazi rozi and Yushaini Hafiz.

The current second placed team in the Premier League gave everything they got and perhaps boosted by the strong support from their ranks could have forced the Super League side into an extra thirty minutes of play.

However The Turtles held on to secure a meeting with Perak, who later that night defeated Sime Darby FC 3-0 at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh. It will be an interesting pairing with both are in good form, The Turtles are just a place below Perak in the Super League in third place and the 'Yob' outfit are still unbeaten this season together with league leaders, Kelantan.

The rest of the fixtures saw an upset in Paroi where holders Negeri Sembilan crashed out 4-2 on penalties to Kuala Lumpur after a goalless match. Another unexpected result was the defeat of the Canaries to Felda United with just a single goal separated the two sides after ninety minutes.

The rest of the favourites made it safely through to the last eight. Kelantan had to work hard at the JCorp Stadium in Pasir Gudang before winning by a solitary goal against Johor FC. Selangor defeated Harimau Muda 'B' 2-1 at the Shah Alam Stadium while at nearby MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya Pahang won 3-1 against PKNS FC.

In a solitary match played the day before Johor booked their place at the expense of Ong Kim Swee's Harimau Muda 'A' team. Perhaps the defeat would not be so bad after all as it will give the boys who will travel to Lahore to face Pakistan on 9 March in the return leg of the 2012 Olympic qualifiers a bit of breathing space after a hectic fixtures since the beginning of the season.

The draw for the quarter-finals:
KUALA LUMPUR vs PAHANG
PERAK vs TERENGGANU
SELANGOR vs JOHOR
KELANTAN vs FELDA UNITED

The first leg is scheduled to be played on 15 March while the return leg on 19 March.

...

Bees Swatted...

...by Turtles.

Terengganu recorded their third win in their 2011 Super League campaign after defeating Johor FC 3-0 at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium last night. The win lifted The Turtles to third in the table behind unbeaten leaders Kelantan and second placed Perak.

Irfan Bakti boys were straight into attack mode right from the start and their efforts paid off in the sixth minute when a long ball by Ismail Faruqi from inside his own area found forward Ashaari Shamsudin on the left.

He then made a low delivery into the box where striker Abdul Hadi Yahya had timed his run to perfection to slot in his fifth goal this season in all competitions. It was also the fifth match in a row the former T-Team striker scored for his new team.

Seven minutes later Ashaari was fouled on the left and referee Ku Alauddin Ku Muhammad awarded the home side a free-kick. Spotting Johor FC goalkeeper, Mohamad Anis Faron was quite far away from his goal, Terengganu midfielder Ismail Faruqi just lobbed the ball over his head.

The custodian perhaps was anticipating a cross rather than a shot, which left him stranded in no man's land.

Joseph who worked hard throughout the match saw a number of his shots saved or blocked by the visitors defence. The closest he came to scoring was in the 69th minute when he blocked an attempted clearance made by Anis. Much to the goalkeeper's relief it went just wide of his goal frame.

Terengganu continued to press with Ashaari and substitute Ahmad Nordin attempted their luck from distance.

Then in the 77th minute Joseph was once again fouled just outside the box. In a move from a training ground routine Terengganu defender Nik Zul Aziz Nawawi nearly scored his first goal for The Turtles but could not keep his shot down.

Two minutes later Terengganu had their third goal when Hadi found Saha at the edge of the box. The forward let fly and despite the attention from a Johor FC defender the ball flew in past Anis who clearly had a miserable time in Kuala Terengganu last night.

Nine minutes from time another Terengganu defender Helmi Remeli tried his luck from an acute angle, attempting to lob Anis from outside the box but he could not keep his shot down.

The Bees had lost their sting and the match was just played out with neither side able to breach each others' goal again.

Meanwhile at the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya, PBDKT T-Team (T-Team) could not build on their win over Perlis on Saturday when they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Felda United. Goals by Faderin Kadir and Bobby Chin were enough to condemn T-Team to their fourth defeat of the season.

Last night results saw Terengganu climbed back to third they occupied briefly on Friday, level on points with Selangor and Felda United but with better goal difference. T-Team meanwhile dropped back to the bottom two after Sabah managed to avoid defeat in their match against Pahang but it was Johor FC who occupied the place above T-Team.



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