Gimme, Gimme Gimme

Showing posts with label Kuala Lumpur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kuala Lumpur. Show all posts

7 Jul 2011

Right...

...to the Wire!

As a Ganuan mad redo1 was hoping to see Terengganu winning their maiden Super League title this season. However, prior to the kick-off of the last round of matches in the 2011 Super League season, he realised that The Turtles only had a small percentage of chances of doing that.

Three points behind leaders Kelantan and two behind Selangor the only way the Super League title coming to Kuala Terengganu was by hoping Saba
h to win against The Stags and Selangor were unable to get a win in Ipoh against Perak. Terengganu also needed to do their part of the bargain by winning big against Felda United at Kelana Jaya.

How mad redo1 wished he could be there to capture the moment but it was the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium for him to cover the T-Team versus Kuala Lumpur match.


With the Terengganu club side already assured of their place in the Super League, the match was more significant for the City Boys who were third from bottom and needed to get at least a draw in Kuala Terengganu.

Thus it was no surprise when they raced to a two goal lead in the first half through Mohamad Badrul Hisyam Azmi. However Indra Putra Mahyuddin reduced the deficit towards the end of the period through a header from a corner.

In the second half Kuala Lumpur restored their two goal lead when Badrul completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, even though T-Team goalkeeper, Ismail Abdul Rahman managed to save the initial kick the striker maintained his cool and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper, whose error gifted Kuala Lumpur their second goal in the first half.


Substitute Shamsul Kamal made the scoreline 3-2 towards the end of the match and despite some late pressure T-Team could not find their way past Kuala Lumpur defence again, condemning them to the thirteenth defeat of the season.

Meanwhile in Kelana Jaya, Terengganu raced to a 4-1 half-time lead with goals coming from Reeshafiq Alwi, Abdul Manaf Mamat and a brace by Abdul Hadi Yahya. However news coming in from Kota Kinabalu were not that rosy as The Stags had taken the lead against Sabah.

It turned out that tonight was not just about the race to become the 2011 league champions but also the race to win the golden boot. Malaysian internationals Hadi of Terengganu and Kelantan's Norshahrul Idlan Talaha were neck to neck to become 2011 topscorer, an award won by Terengganu's Ashaari Shamsuddin in 2010.

Then in the second half, Hadi found something extra and found the Felda United's net twice to make it twenty goals to his name and ensuring the golden boot would make its way to Terengganu again.

At the end of the night, The Turtles could not overhaul The Stags which were crowned as Super League Champions for the first time while Terengganu finished in their highest ever position since the start of the Super League, as runners-up which was an improvement from last season's third place. Selangor finished third after being held to a goal-less draw by Perak.

The immediate attention for Malaysian football fans would be the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers against Singapore on the 21 and 28 of July. Then it will be a break for Ramadhan before the Malaysia Cup tournament begin a week after Aidil-Fitri in September.

To Terengganu, CONGRATULATIONS FOR A GOOD SEASON!


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30 Jun 2011

Battle Won...

...but the War is Not Over, Yet.

Failure to keep a clean sheet against Chinese Taipei last night could cost Malaysia dear in their quest to progress further in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying Tournament. The Malayan Tigers did win the match by the odd goal in three but the Taiwanese know they only have to win 1-0 on Sunday in their own backyard to eliminate the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup champions in the first hurdle.

Malaysia failed to capitalise their home ground advantage. Roared on by the partisan crowd Rajagobal's boys had to wait until nearly half an hour into the match before breaking the deadlock.

Substitute Abdul Hadi Yahya, who just came in place of out of sort fullback, Helmi Remeli, broke on the right. He passed the ball to Kunanlan who in turn set the ball up for his skipper Safiq Rahim. The midfielder took his shot early and watched as his effort flew across Chinese Taipei goalkeeper, Lin Po-Cheng and went in after hitting the far post.

Several more chances were created before the break but the Malaysian players wasted them through poor finishing and resolute defending by the visitors. However the home side capitalised on a poor defending by Chinese Taipei nine minutes into the second half to go two goals clear.

Photo by: Azhari Yusop | Dunia Sukan Online

A good delivery by Safiq was met by central defender, Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak who was left unmarked as he made his run to attack the ball. It was powerful enough to see it bulged the Taiwanese goal net and sending fans in the stands into a state of delirium.

There were a few more opportunities came their way to make the tie completely safe but the Malaysian players just could not make the most of them.

Then thirteen minutes from time, the entire Malaysian defence just went asleep. From a throw in the Taiwanese player broke on the left and delivered a cut back which was met with a fine finish by Chen Po-Liang. None of the Malaysian defender pick up his run into the box which left goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee totally exposed.

Despite their efforts later on, the Tigers could not find their way past Po-Cheng again and now must brace themselves for a difficult second leg encounter at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on Sunday.


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4 May 2011

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.



...

23 Apr 2011

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.



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17 Apr 2011

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.





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20 Mar 2011

Turtles Through...

...to the Last Four

Having done a good job in Ipoh last Tuesday, Terengganu completed the turn-around against Perak at the Sultan Ismail Nasirudin Shah Stadium last night with a 3-1 win. Goals from Reeshafiq Alwi, abdul Manaf Mamat and Abdul Hadi Yahya ensured The Turtles date with Pahang in the last four in May.

However, the match was in danger of being not played at all when circuit problems caused the floodlights to fail a number of times. However match officials decided to give it a go and the match went underway, albeit a few minutes off the scheduled kick-off time.

The home side made their intention clear from the start with Joseph Kalang Tie fired in a free kick from the right which was cleared in the second minute. Then his fellow Sarawakian Reeshafiq Alwi saw his shot from outside the box blocked by the Perak defence.


However, as the match entered its sixth minute, the light went out again much to the dismay of thousands of fans that throng the old stadium. The stadium was lit only by the light from the 'Supermoon' that made its once in 29 years appearance that night.

The likelihood of the match being postponed and played the next day was high. It could be a disaster for the home team. Fortunately, the match officials, much to their credit decided to give it another go when the lights was restored, perhaps thinking of a postponement would bring much anger to the fans.

Terengganu continued where they left prior to the blackout. The Perak defence had to be alert to stop a shot from Hadi and a minute later Ashaari Shamsudin broke through on the lft before squaring the ball to Manaf who could not direct his shot on target.

Perak continued to hold strongly while launching several attacks on their own but the Terengganu defence, led by skipper Marzuki Yusof who missed the first leg through injury was up to the task in quelling the visitors' attacks.

Goalkeeper Nasril Nourdin denied Hadi a goalscoring chance when he was quick enough to dive at the striker's feet after he was put through into the box in the 32nd minute.

Then six minutes before the interval Joseph Kalang delivered an inch perfect cross from the right and Reeshafiq stole between two Perak defenders to direct it past Nasril for the goal that put The Turtles in the driving seat.

They could go through on away goals rule if the score stayed the same till the end of the match. But Terengganu continued to press and with Perak having to attack to ensure their survival in the competition, they could exploit any gaps in the visitors' defence.

The sky opened up just when the match was about to end for the interval. The fans were soaked wet by the downpour but that did not dampen their support and the players responded well by continuing to press Perak, hitting the bar in the process.

Then six minutes after the restart Terengganu went ahead for the first time in the tie when Manaf blasted the ball from outside the penalty box and it went in at Nasril's near post. Terengganu were 4-3 ahead on aggregate.


The goal led to a spirited fightback by Perak who forced a succession of free-kicks around the Terengganu penalty area. Fortunately for the home fans the defence stood firm and goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee was alert enough to palm away a curling effort which was going on target.

However he could do nothing when fifteen minutes from time Perak striker, Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli levelled the aggregate score when his powerful shot from another free-kick hit the back of the net, despite Sharbinee managed to put a hand to it.

Terengganu still had the away goal advantage but they could not afford to just sit back and defend as another goal by Perak would knock them out from the competition. Joseph Kalang proved to be the torn in Perak's flesh all night with his tireless running and passing.

With just over ten minutes to go his pass put Hadi through and the striker shrugged off the challenge from two Perak defenders before stroking the ball past the diving Nasril, The Turtles were ahead again and they only needed to hold on for the remainder of the match.

For his effort throughout the match Joseph Kalang should have a goal to his name but it was not to be. He managed to create a chance for himself but could not keep his shot down.


With just a minute to go a stupid action by a section of the home fans saw the referee, Nagor Amir Noor Mohamad stopped the match. An object that was thrown by a fan had hit the referee assistant and this could see Terengganu being fined heavily by FAM.

More seriously, the match could be stopped which would be detrimental to Terengganu's cause.


Again, the referee decided to go on with the match after a while. There were four minutes of added minutes and during which Manaf and Ashaari tried their luck from afar but could not find the back of the net.

The four minutes went slowly for Terengganu fans but in the end the players prevailed and managed to hold on to the 3-1 scoreline as Perak tried their best to force extra-time with another goal.

Terengganu will play Pahang in an all east coast affair in the last four. The Elephants were held to a scoreless draw by Kuala Lumpur on Friday to advance on a 2-1 aggregate. The other semi-final will feature Selangor and Kelantan who overcame Johor and Felda United respectively with identical 5-2 aggregate victory.

RESULTS:
Pahang 0 Kuala Lumpur 0 (Pahang won 2-1 on aggregate)
Terengganu 3 Perak 1 (Terengganu won 5-4 on aggregate)
Johor 1 Selangor 2 (Selangor won 5-2 on aggregate)
Felda United 0 Kelantan 3 (Kelantan won 5-2 on aggregate)

2011 FA CUP SEMI-FINALS
Pahang vs Terengganu
Selangor vs Kelantan

The semi-finals are scheduled for 13 and 16 of May 2011.

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16 Mar 2011

Good Job...

...in Ipoh

It was not the best of results but it was not the worst either. Terengganu lost the first leg of their FA Cup quarter-final tie against Perak 3-2 at the Perak Stadium last night. The home side took the lead going into the fifteenth minute of play through Isma Alif Mohamad Salim but Terengganu striker, Abdul Manaf Mamat restored parity five minutes before the interval.

The match was evenly balanced for most of the second half but a three minutes spell eleven minutes from time saw Perak sitting comfortably in front with goals from Mohamad Fazrul Hazli Mohamad Kadri (79th) and Akmal Rizal Mohamad Rakhli (83rd) gave the home fans the feel good feeling for the second leg on Saturday.


However, Terengganu midfielder Reeshafiq Alwi's 90th minute strike reduced the gap to just a single goal, which meant The Turtles only need a single goal victory in Kuala Terengganu to go through to the last four of the competition.

Many Terengganu fans are feeling confident that their team will be able to do the necessary when the second leg starts this Saturday.

In other matches, Super League leaders Kelantan and Felda United battled to a 2-2 draw in Kota Bahru with goals coming from Zamri Chin and Liew Kit Kong for The Settlers while skipper Badri Radzi and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha scored for the home side as Kelantan failed to win for the second successive time.

The two sides will meet again on the same venue on Saturday for the second leg as the KLFA Stadium is still unavailable for football matches.

Another side which had to play their home match away from home was Kuala Lumpur. The City Boys 'entertained' Pahang at the Darul Makmur Stadium but fell behind when Amirul Ashraf Sayuti scored for the 'visitors' after half an hour.

Kuala Lumpur equalised through Ahmad Azlan Zainal ten minutes after the break but Pahang took a huge advantage for their home tie this Saturday when Azamuddin Akil netted their second in the 64th minute.

In the only tie involving team from the Premier League, Super League champions Selangor easily defeated Johor 3-1 at the Shah Alam Stadium. Hardi Jaafar, Rudie Ramli and Amri Yahyah found the back of the Johor net as the Red Giants looked like strolling to the last four.

However Mohamad Alif Mohamad Yusof pulled one back for the southerners to give them a glimmer of hope for the second leg tie in Johor Bahru.

RESULTS:
FA CUP QUARTER-FINALS, FIRST LEG
KUALA LUMPUR 1 vs PAHANG 2
PERAK 3 vs TERENGGANU 2
SELANGOR 3 vs JOHOR 1
KELANTAN 2 vs FELDA UNITED 2


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14 Mar 2011

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.




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5 Mar 2011

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.

...

26 Feb 2011

'Away' Win for Turtles...

...at SSiNS.

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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