Stalemate in Kuala Terengganu, Again

Terengganu put a brake on their neighbour's march towards their second consecutive Super League title when they staged another comeback to hold The Stags to a 2-2 draw at The Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, Kuala Terengganu.

However, the visitors went ahead just after six minutes when former Terengganu player, Norfarhan Muhammad struck against his former team with a stiff left foot shot past the unsighted Terengganu goalkeeper, Sharmiza Yusoff.

Things got worse for the goalkeeper who was playing due to an injury to Sharbinee Allawee when he misjudged the flight of the ball from a Badhri Radzi's free-kick, allowing the ball to go past him in the 21st minute.

However five minutes from the interval, Ismail Faruqi found Francis Doe with a reverse pass and the Liberian delivered a cross into the box which somehow arrived at Abdul Hadi Yahya's feet despite the attention from two Kelantan defenders.

Last season topscorer made no mistake with a shot that went into the top corner of Khairul Fahmi's goal. The Turtles continued their revival in the second half.

Just five minutes after the restart Terengganu found themselves level when a glancing header by defender, Muslim Ahmad left Khairul Fahmi rooted. It was a precise delivery by midfielder, Ismail Faruqi from a dead ball situation that opened the chance for Muslim.

Both teams continued to create chances but the score remained until the final whistle. The point saw the gap at the top reduced to just two points with Kelantan have three matches in hand over the Lions XII.

Perak remained in third spot after a 3-2 win over PBDKT T-Team. Faiz Subri opened the scoring for the visitors with a long range strike after nineteen minutes.

However goals from Muhamad Nazri, Mohamad Failee and Albert Dominique cheered the home fans. However, they have to endure a nervous ending when another long range effort from Faiz went past the goalkeeper to reduce the gap. However, the visitors could not find another goal to level the score.

Selangor kept up the pace with Perak with a 1-0 win over neighbour, PKNS FC courtesy of skipper's Amri Yahyah's goal as the match was going into the break.

Johor FC's climb from the relegation zone continue with another win. Last night The Bees registered a 1-0 win over bottom side Kuala Lumpur. Khairul Ismail's well executed free-kick gave them their third consecutive win.

Two other struggling teams met head on last night in a relegation six pointer match. Sabah won 1-0 against fellow strugglers, Kedah in Kota Kinabalu with Jeffrey Omopor strike in the 53rd minute ensured The Sabahawks collected all three points and replaced The Canaries in twelfth place.

In Melaka, The Crocs registered only their fourth away win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Felda United. 


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Stalemate in Kuala Terengganu

PBDKT T-Team halted a run of two successive defeats after holding Negeri Sembilan to a 1-1 draw at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.

After a dull first half, the match exploded into life in the second. Negeri Sembilan topscorer, Effa Owona latched onto a long pass from the middle before unleashing an unstoppable shot past T-Team goalkeeper, Syamsuri Mustafa.

However, the lead did not last long when T-Team's substitute, Badrul Hisani found Faiz Subri in the box with a long pass. The forward first touch was good to set himself up with a goalscoring opportunity. The former Perlis player did not waste it with a firm shot past Farizal Marlias.

The result saw both teams remained at the place they occupied before the match with T-Team occupying seventh spot while Negeri Sembilan were in fifth place.

Terengganu also did not move from their sixth place when they played to a 2-2 draw at the MBPJ Stadium against PKNS FC. Shukur Jusoh gave The Turtles the lead after just three minutes with a superb strike from outside the box after the home defence only managed to partially clear the ball from a corner.

However, PKNS levelled the score through another set-piece when Faudzan Zulkifli headed home from a corner. They went ahead when Terengganu defender, Faizal Muhammad was adjudged to have fouled Faudzan in the box.

Daud Nicoise made no mistake from the penalty spot. The lead was maintained throughout the second half and PKNS looked good for all three points but a minute from time they conceded a corner.

A good delivery by Ismail Faruqi found the head of Ashaari Shamsuddin and his back-header crept past the PKNS defence at the near post to spoil the night for their former Head Coach, Abdul Rahman Ibrahim.

Kelantan reduced the gap at the top of the Super League table between them and Lions XII to just three points with a 2-0 win over Sabah in Kota Bahru. Goals from Rizal Fahmi and Indra Putra Mahyuddin condemned Sabah to their ninth defeat of the season.

Perak took full advantage of Selangor in-activity when they recorded a 2-1 win over Sarawak at The State Stadium to climb into third spot. Kedah moved out from the bottom two with a 2-1 win over bottom team, Kuala Lumpur with Sabah taking their place.

Johor FC continued their revival with a 1-0 win over Felda United.


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Costly Substitution

Terengganu lost in the Super League for the first time at their Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium when a late strike by Lions XII substitute, Suffian Anuar separated the two sides.

The match was heading towards a goalless stalemate when Terengganu made a strange substitution, taking off Muhaimin Omar and replacing him with Mohamad Humaidie.

The reason for it being strange was due to another left-back, Hariri Safii was available and it is very rare to use a high profile match like this to send a youngster for his debut. The fact that Humaidie was not at all featured in the last few President Cup matches was another factor that should be taken into consideration.

True enough, it was from Humaidie's side that The Lions' found their path towards The Turtles' goal. In the end Terengganu should only blame themselves for the defeat which saw them dropping to sixth place in the Super League table.

To complete a bad night for Terengganu football fans, PBDKT T-Team were thrashed 5-0 by Selangor at the Shah Alam Stadium. It was their biggest defeat of the season. Irfan Bakti's men remained in third. They were joined by Perak on 33 points after The Caribao won 2-1 against Felda United in Ipoh.

Kelantan maintained their pressure on the Lions with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Kuala Lumpur at The Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka. Negeri Sembilan climbed into fifth after a 3-1 win over Sarawak in Seremban.

Sabah suffered a big setback in their fight against relegation after losing 4-0 at home to PKNS FC. They now dropped to third from bottom after another relegation threatened side, Johor FC registered a 2-1 over strugglers, Kedah in Pasir Gudang.

Young Tigers Win

Malaysia defeated Qatar 2-0 in an U-22 international friendly at the Shah Alam Stadium this afternoon. The win would boost the morale of Ong Kim Swee's boys ahead of the Asian U-22 Championship qualifiers in Myanmar which will start on June 23.

Malaysia captain, Irfan Fazail broke the deadlock in the 26th minute with a wonderfully struck free-kick which gave Qatar goalkeeper, Muhammad Naim Hussien no chance at all.

Photo by Helmi Dawi | Dunia Sukan Online

However, the match turned sour five minutes before the interval when a hard tackle by Abdelkarim Hassan on Mohamad Azrif Nasrulhaq led to Malaysian midfielder, Nazmi Faiz Mansor to losing his cool and struck the Qatari.

Referee Nagor Amir Noor Mohamad showed no hesitation to flash the red card to Nazmi as well as Abdelkarim who retaliated after Nazmi's red mist action.

Despite being reduced to ten men for the rest of the match, both teams showed eagerness to come forward. However, it was the home fans who celebrated when the Young Tigers scored again in the 68th minute.

After his initial effort were blocked by the wall, Sabah striker, Mohamad Rozaimi Abdul Rahman picked up the loose ball and blasted it past the goalkeeper who could do nothing to prevent it from going in.

Malaysia defence then held on for the rest of the match, giving Terengganu born goalkeeper, Izhan Tarmizi a clean sheet.


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Terengganu Win Turtle Derby

Terengganu climbed to third place in the Malaysian Super League after registering their first win in seven matches when they defeated PBDKT T-Team 3-0 in the season's second Turtle derby at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium last night.

Two goals in the first half from returning striker, Abdul Manaf Mamat saw the 'away' side firmly in control of proceedings at the end of the first forty five minutes.

The first goal came in the 27th minute when Abdul Hadi Yahya found Manaf with a lovely through ball and despite being pressured by Norfazly Alias, the striker managed to slot the ball home past goalkeeper, Iqbal Suhaimi.

Then with three minutes of the half remaining, Hadi broke through on the left and after shaking off Bojan Petric squared the ball. Manaf who was sandwiched between Shahrul Ezrain and Norfazly somehow managed to to get a touch to prod the ball over the line.

T-Team dominated more in the second half but did not really create any clear cut chance to reduce the deficit. To make matter worse they fell to a sucker punch blow when Terengganu increased their lead towards the end.

After lending a hand in the opening two goals, Hadi this time found the net himself after finishing a quick counter attack initiated by defender, Muslim Ahmad who made a run from his own penalty area before finding Hadi with a simple pass.

Terengganu named an all Malaysian starting eleven with Francis Doe was reportedly still away on international duty with his nation, Liberia who will play Namibia in an African Cup of Nations qualifying match.

The Turtles other foreign player, Baiano only came on in the second half while T-Team were also without the service of their Brazilian playmaker, Marco Tulio who was out injured.

It was a good win and also a good start to Peter Butler's reign as Terengganu Head Coach and would boost the confidence of his charges as they entertain the Lions XII on Tuesday.

Meanwhile T-Team coach, Yunus Alif must inspire his lads in order for them to get a good result when they travel to Shah Alam to take on Selangor, also on Tuesday.


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First in Eight for T-Team

PBDKT T-Team posted their first win in eight matches when they overcame a spirited Kuala Lumpur side 2-1 at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, Kuala Terengganu last night.

Their Brazillian signing, Marco Tulio notched his first goal for his new team when his shot took a heavy deflection of Kuala Lumpur defender, Ahmad Dashila and looped over his stranded goalkeeper, Zahid Ahmad just after two minutes.

Fadzli Saari should have made it two-nil when he was put through with just Zahid to beat. Unfortunately the former Selangor striker's lob was just a little off target as Kuala Lumpur survived another scare.

The City Boys then took advantage when T-Team defence went asleep, letting Muhammad Afiq Azmi through. The young striker used his pace to get the better of veteran defender, Norfazly Alias and then took full advantage of goalkeeper Mohamad Iqbal hesitant goalkeeping to level the score.

The goal seemed to woken up the home side and they put Kuala Lumpur under pressure. However they only managed to score again in the second half when Norfazly beat the offside trap to head the ball past Zahid for a goal that turned out to be the winner.

Terengganu meanwhile threw away a one goal lead at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka against Felda United. Ismail Faruqi's goal was the fruit of their dominant display against The Settlers.

However, they failed to turn up in the second half and the home side hit back through goals from Raimi Mohamad Noor and Mickael Antoine-Curier to ensure The Turtles remained winless in their last four matches.

Kelantan meanwhile returned to the top of the league after registering a 3-0 away win over PKNS FC. The Stags received a little help from Kedah who held the Lions XII to a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Both teams are now level on points but Kelantan led on a better goal difference. Perak had moved to third a day earlier after defeating Selangor 2-0 in Ipoh.

The Borneo 'derby' in Kuching saw the home side winning their sixth match this season. Just a single goal separated them and Sabah but the win saw The Crocodiles maintaining the eighth position while Sabah dropped to tenth.

Negeri Sembilan climbed to fifth after winning their match against struggling Johor FC 2-1 in Paroi. The win avenged The Deers defeat against the same team which dumped them out of the FA Cup last month.


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Turtles Despair in Selayang

Sime Darby FC wrote themselves into the record books as the first club side to qualify for the FA Cup final after knocking out holders Terengganu in the semi-final last night. A goalless draw at the rain soaked Selayang Stadium was enough for them to see off The Turtles whom they defeated 2-1 in Kuala Terengganu in the first leg.

After thrashing Song Lam Nghe An 6-2 in their last match and a five day gap between the matches, many Terengganu fans were expecting their team to do a comeback at Selayang where they need to keep a clean sheet and score at least two goals to qualify for the final.

However, judging from their display in the opening minutes it would be a miracle for that to happen. In fact it was the home side which threaten to score first with a stinging shot by Faiz Isa forced Sharbinee Allawee into action.

Terengganu were woken up by this and they started to pressure the Sime Darby defence. Then as the match was nearing its quarter of an our mark, Francis Doe managed to bundle the ball into the net following a corner but the referee ruled it out due to an earlier infringement.

The ball was in Terengganu possession for the majority of the first half but they could not do much with it as they lacked creativity to open up the Sime Darby defensive line. Most of their shots were off targets making the job easier for Redzuan Harun in the Sime Darby goal.

Just after the half hour mark, the lone striker for the home team, Yusof Zainal nearly put The Turtles mission to sleep when he robbed Mazlizam Mohamad off the ball but he lacked the composure to finish the opportunity allowing Sharbinee to easily save his weak shot at goal.

In the 37th minute Terengganu were awarded a free-kick after a foul on Ismail Faruqi. Ashaari Shamsuddin's effort cleared the defensive wall but much to the disappointment of the travelling supporters, the ball hit the post and went out of play.

Then as the match was nearing the interval, Doe was presented with another chance from a corner but instead of just cushioning the ball into the net, he decided to force it home with his head, causing the ball to fly over the bar.

Five minutes after the restart a sight most Terengganu fans did not want to see unfolded as Doe was taken off due to an injury and coming on to replace him was Ailim Fahmi. Many of them knew at this moment the mountain they were climbing just gotten higher.

The match progressed on and Terengganu display showed they were bereft of any ideas on how to penetrate the Sime Darby defence who were contented to let their opponents coming at them and tried to hit on the break.

The introduction of Razali Umar Kandasamy to replace Yusof Zainal was a step in the right direction as the former Perak striker physical side of the game caused problems for the Terengganu defence. By the end of the match he would have at least three shots saved by Sharbinee whose display kept his side in the contest.

In the end the better team went through to the final and Terengganu knew they were not good enough this time around to keep their hands on the trophy they won in a dramatic fashion last season.

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