It is advantage Kedah after they emerged victorious over 10-men Terengganu in a rainy night at the Darul Aman Stadium — in the FA Cup first leg semi-final match against Terengganu.
And all thanks to their super-substitute, Farhan Roslan.
But it was Terengganu who started off brightly straight from kick-off. They almost caught the Kedah defence off-guard thans to a neat 1-2 between Issey Nakajima Farran and Faiz Nasir. Mohd Ifwat was able to read the situation well to close the gap and save Issey’s effort.
But Kedah was able to get possession on their side and started to attack relentlessly. Terengganu never looked like regaining that possession and has been the back of it throughout the whole match. They can thank Ameirul Hakimi for keeping them in the match after saves from Ken Ilso and Sandro Mendonca.
Five minutes from the break, Hakimi made an uncharacteristic error when he needlessly dived to stop Ilso’s cross and the ball found Syazwan Zainon unmarked. But, he was too hasty and shoots over.
Straight from the restart, Issey had a wonderful chance to score under Kedah’s noses and somehow, he shoots wide with only Mohd Ifwat to beat.
Then, Kedah had two chances to take the lead within a space of two minutes. On the 50th minute, Liridon Krasniqi chested down Fitri Omar’s cross nicely and somehow shoots over with only the goal yards in front of him.
Then, Liridon turned provider when he crossed the ball from the right to find Ilso on the far post and the Danish international also shoots over.
On the 69th minute, Farhan Roslan came on for Sandro, who was mostly ineffective. Two minutes later, he made an impact. From a shot corner, Ilso by the goal-line, cuts it back for an incoming Farhan, who unleashed a powerful shot that Hakimi found too much to handle.
The night went from bad to worse for Terengganu 10 minutes from time.
Adib Aizuddin kicked Farhan’s leg in a poor effort to win the ball back and got a 2nd yellow, following his first yellow for a foul on Ilso in the 2nd half.
Farhan had two more chances to widen the margin, but could not convert. In the end, his goal was enough to give Kedah something to celebrate momentarily heading into the 2nd leg.
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