Kelantan continued their revival of fortunes by sealing precious three points against Perak earlier today, thanks to a narrow 1-0 win in Kota Bharu.
The Seladangs fielded a strong side for the match, with the exception of star flanker Nurridzuan Abu Hassan, though his absence ended up affecting Perak’s tempo on the pitch, which probably explained Kelantan’s strong start to the game.
In fact, they were able to put Perak under pressure within the first 10 minutes, which led to Ridzuan Azly’s booking, for a foul on Wan Zaharulnizam.
The latter could have then opened the scoring for the home side, but his free kick attempt, on the 13th minute mark, went wide off target.
Five minutes later, Wan Zaharul had yet another opportunity, but this time around, his attempt was saved excellently by Zamir Selamat. As the game progressed, Kelantan continued dominating the tempo, though Perak did have their fair share of chances, all of which, unfortunately, went begging away.
After the break, Kelantan continued pressing on the offensive, and they eventually strengthened their firepower by introducing Austin Amutu in place of Piya, which worked in their favour, as it pressed Perak into a conservative approach. On the 72nd minute, Kelantan finally got the break, as Wan Zack Haikal found the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Datuk M. Karathu’s men worked hard to muster a comeback, and despite Kelantan being reduced to 10 men late in the game, Perak could not find a breakthrough, as they succumbed to their fifth league defeat of the season.
As for Kelantan, this victory now means that they’ve won their last three Super League matches and they currently occupy 9th spot on the league table, with 21 points.
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