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Pahang 1 K Rajan 86

Terengganu 2 Zairo Anwar Zailani 51, 58

Terengganu leapt to the top of the Malaysia Super League after recording their fourth victory of the season against Pahang last night. The 2-1 victory at the Darul Makmur Stadium came courtesy of Zairo Anuar Zailani who notched another brace to bring his tally to five goals this season.

The win and aided by the defeat of previous leaders Kedah at DPMM of Brunei saw Terengganu three points clear at the top from Perlis and NS Naza who were second and third, even though both teams played a match less than the Turtles. Kedah and Selangor also had accumulated ten points but had played one match more.

The first half of the East Coast derby did not see any clear cut chance being created by either side. The Pahang capital had seen rain falling throughout the day making the pitch heavy for both sets of players. Terengganu were clearly missing the physical presence of Brazilian Gleisson Freire up-front who was suspended for this match due to accumulating three yellow cards in previous matches.

Young striker Abdul Manaf Mamat was given the opportunity by coach Yunus Alif to partner Mohd Saufi Mohd Ibrahim. His lack of experience denied him from getting to ball first after Pahang goalkeeper Mohd Iqbal had spilled a powerful free-kick from Zairo.

Yunus reshuffled his line-up at the interval, taking off Abdul Manaf and replacing him with Rosairil Asrul. National player Mohd Norfarhan Mohamad was moved up-front and Rosairil took his place on the flanks. Six minutes after the restart Terengganu took the lead when Zairo picked up a weak clearance at the edge of the penalty area and unleashed an unstoppable shot past the stranded Iqbal.

Turtle fans erupted with joy. Seven minutes later their joy was doubled when the referee pointed to the spot after Mohd Saufi was bundled over by a Pahang defender inside the box while trying to connect with a cross from Rosairul. Zairo was a picture of calm as he stroked the ball past Iqbal who went the wrong way. Terengganu were two goals to the good.

The Turtles were cruising and Pahang did not create any chance to reduce the visitors’ lead. Yunus Alif would be very concerned with growing number of injury to his players as full-back Mohd Shahrul Ezrain had to be carried off midway through the second half. Ahmad Shahril Zakaria came on for the remainder of the match. With Brazilian Jocian Bento Dos Anjos missing this match through injury sustained against Perlis, Yunus must be praying hard there would not be any injury to his players.

Four minutes from time Pahang finally conjured up a chance and K. Rajan cooly beat Mohd Sharbinee Allawee to ensure a nail-biting finish to the match for both sets of supporters. Having seen their team failed to bring home full points after leading during their away matches before Terengganu fans could not be blamed for fearing the worst.

However, this time skipper Mohd Marzuki Yusof and Fabio Flor marshalled the defence well enough to ensure travelling home would be a joyful affair for Terengganu players and fans alike.