Terengganu checked their back-to-back defeats in their last two outings with a 1-0 win over Pahang at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan in their opening second-round Super League match on Friday.
It was also sweet revenge for the Turtles who had lost to the Elephants 1-3 in their first-round match at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu last week.
Terengganu head coach Irfan Bakti was more than pleased to check the slide after the Turtles also fell to Perak 2-3 in Ipoh after the defeat to Pahang.
The winning goal came in the 62nd minute when Kipre Tchetche beat Pahang’s offside trap and made inroads on the left before sending the ball across the Pahang goalmouth.
The deadly cross went past a sea of legs before finding Faiz Nasir who kept his cool and sent a delightful left-footed rising shot in the roof of the net past a stunned Helmi Elias.
“This is the win we were looking for to get back our confidence after back-to-back defeats. Three important away points mean a lot to us,” said Irfan, who again played the injured Tchetche for 70 minutes.
The Ivory Coast striker is nursing a thigh injury and his absence has affected Terengganu’s strikeforce.
Pahang coach Dollah Salleh was a disappointed man with the home defeat and said: “Nothing went right for us against Terengganu. It was a listless first-half for us and when we upped the ante in the second-half we did not take our chances.”
Meanwhile, in Kota Bahru the Red Warriors fell to a 2-1 defeat to Perak SEDC (PKNP). Much was expected from Kelantan after their 4-2 win over Kuala Lumpur at the same venue last week.
SUPER LEAGUE RESULTS (May 11)
Pahang 0 Terengganu 1
Kelantan 1 PKNP 2
