Kuala Terengganu, 2 Febuary – Not the best performance from Terengganu but was just enough to maintain their unbeatable records at home. A brace from Gleisson Jorge De Souza Freire and a spectacular in swinging corner kick from Zairo Anuar Zalani adding another 3 points to the Turtle's tally to 21 points so far while Negeri Sembilan Naza got their consolation goal from Idris Karim's thunderous low drive.
It was Negeri Sembilan Naza who makes the early start, pumping adrenaline onto everyone at the stadium with their clean control of the ball. M. Zaquan Adha was a constant thorn to the Terengganu's defenses with his run and tricks putting the Turtles mostly on their back foot for the first 10 minutes of the game while their counterparts upfront led by the Brazilian, Gleisson rarely have the ball at their disposal reflecting Negeri Sembilan Naza's absolute control over the turf. As the visitors were compiling pressure after pressure towards Terengganu's goalmouth, a swift home side counter attack forced the visitors to concede a corner and dead ball specialist, Zairo Anuar Zalani erupted the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium with what could easily be the goal of the season, an in swinging corner kick right from the spot to take the game into the home side's joy.
The goal was all that is needed to boost the player's morale as they slowly catching up in the game. But with long ball passing mentality spurn by Yunus Aliff, there's nothing much that can be done as it depreciates the involvements of Terengganu's creative midfielders and drying up the twin strikers upfront. Negeri Sembilan Naza on the other hand, provides nearly total domination in the midfields with Lamin Conteh acted as the playmaker providing pin point passes to S. Kunalan and M.Zaquan Adha but to their dissapointment, Terengganu's defence led by Marzuki Yusof and Fabio Flor stood firm to deny any possibilities. While Negeri Sembilan Naza's players were on rampage with their quest for the equaliser, their line of defences brokes once again thanks to Zairo Anuar Zalani who yielded a long pass across the field splitting the defences to the rushing Gleisson Jorge De Souza Freire who was left unmarked. He then neatly chipped the ball over the ongoing Farizal Harun to register his first and Terengganu's second goal of the night. The first half ended with the home side comfortably with two goals ahead.
The second half started with both coach make a few adjustment to their teams. Md Yazid Md Yassin replacing Farizal Harun in Negeri Sembilan Naza's goal mouth while Yunus Aliff tried to shake things up by pulling Jocian Bento Dos Anjos off for Mohd Saufi Ibrahim. In the second half, the game finally brought to balance as both team exchanging strikes on each end of the fields. But the on form Gleisson Jorge De Souza Freire proved to be too hard to handle as he together with Mohd Saufi Ibrahim and Zairo Anuar Zalani illustrates what could be regards as the move of the night before slamming the Negeri Sembilan Naza's goal for the third time. And he was just not lucky enough to bag his first hatrick of the season when his high drive hit the wood bar after beating three defenders in the process. Towards the end, Terengganu switched to a more consecutives gesture allowing the visitors take control. In the dying minutes, Negeri Sembilan Naza got their consolation goal from Idris Karim thunderous low drive. Full time result, Terengganu 3 – Negeri Sembilan Naza 1.
Lineups:
Terengganu
Sarbinee Allawee Ramli (gk), Shahrul Hezrain Shamsuddin, Fabio Flor, Marzuki Yusof, Md. Muhaimin Omar, Ashaari Shamsuddin (Che Hishamuddin Che Hassan), Zairo Anuar Zalani, Abdul Manaf Mamat (Rosairil Asrul Md Nor), Jocian Bento Dos Anjos (Md Saufi Ibrahim), Gleisson Jorge De Souza Freire.
Negeri Sembilan Naza
Md Farizal Harun (gk) (Md Yazid Md Yassin), Md Rahman Zabul, Lamin Conteh Al Hidayat, Mohd Affandy Adimel, S.Kunalan, Md Aidil Zafuan, Idris Karim, Shahurain Abu Samah (Abd Halim Zainal), Md Zaquan Adha, Ching Hong Aik, Efendi Abd Malek (Udo Fortune).
