A first half strike from Liberian striker, Francis Doe, was enough to see Terengganu beat Sarawak 1-0 in Kuching. Joseph Kalang Tie returned to play against his former team and may have been forgiven if he had expected a few cheers from the crowd. He didn’t get any. There were chants but none he’d like to remember. Booed when he had the ball and jeered when he made mistakes. I bet he’s so itching to come back and play for Sarawak now.
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It was a clear night and fantastic weather for football. A rough estimation of 17,000 people came to see Sarawak take on Terengganu with the TYT of Sarawak in attendance again. Robert Alberts’ message to the players may have been simple, play like how they did against Sabah and they will lose. I didn’t see them play against Sabah but if they had played like this, Sarawak would have been unlucky to not have come away with a result.
Terengganu looked menacing every time they went forward. Cool and composed with the ball, one would see why they are among the favourites to win the league. Sarawak did well to repel the Terengganu offensive with Hairol and Yosri once again looking like a competent center half pairing but it was only a matter of time before Terengganu’s midfield, that contained Malaysia internationals, Ashaari Shamsuddin, Shukor Jusoh and Ismail Faruqi, would find a breakthrough. Did I also mentioned Terengganu’s defence had Zubir Azmi, Marzuki Yusof and Muslim Ahmad? All are Malaysia internationals. Sharbinee is also a Malaysia international albeit the country’s No.2 goalkeeper.
Ravindran, in the starting line-up, wasted two half chances to put Sarawak into the lead. The first, collecting the ball just outside the penalty box, his sliding shot was well blocked. The second, from a corner, he was found at the penalty area but with the ball slightly behind him, he was unable to swivel his body and make a good contact.
Terengganu took the lead in the 37th minute. A quick one-two released Doe into the penalty box and he clinically slotted the ball high right of Saiful. Following that goal, Sarawak pounced into life. An innocuous cross almost dipped into the goal but for the fingertips of an alert Sharbinee. From the resulting corner, Sharbinee was called into action again as Captain Hairol rose unchallenged at the back post. His header was tipped over the bar.
The second half saw Sarawak adopt a more aggressive game, pushing higher up the pitch to win back possession.
Sarawak managed to hold Terengganu in their own half with Doe having to feed off long balls. Ravindran had a few half chances but couldn’t find the back of the net. It would not be his night.
Enter Zamri Morshidi. He gave the frontline a bit more edge and had a golden opportunity to equalise soon after coming on when a good cross from Rajan found him 6 yards from goal but his volley attempt was straight at Sharbinee. Zamri’s persistence on winning back the ball from defenders gave urgency to the attack but Sarawak were let down with poor passes in the final third.
Doe had an excellent chance late on to double the lead. A long ball found him as he beat the offside trap. He was able to knock the ball and round an advancing Saiful but his touch was a little bit too heavy on the turn and he was unable to recover.
This is Sarawak’s second loss in a row and things look bleak as they head to Selangor this Saturday.
Man of the Match: Guy Bwele. His tenacity and unrelenting spirit was evident to see. He took the key role of stamping his authority in midfield. He may not have been the most skillful player on display but it was enough to spin a few Terengganu markers around.
Moan of the Match: Kalle Sone. His presence in front of goal was as dominating as a shop-house in the KL skyline. This is due to the fact that he is still injured. Sarawak fans will definitely see him in action. One day. Yup. One day.
Sara-fisticated stretching techniques: I don’t have a degree in sports science but I believe doing cross leg lunges make you look like a twat.
