First ever Terengganu-Negeri Sembilan final in Malaysia Cup

Terengganu will face Negeri Sembilan in the Malaysia Cup final match at the Shah Alam Stadium next Saturday after they both defeated their rival teams in the second leg semi-finals Saturday night.

Terengganu beat Selangor 2-1 on a 4-1 aggregate, while Negeri Sembilan defeated T-Team 2-1 with an aggregate of 6-3.

In the first leg semi-final last Tuesday, Selangor lost 0-2 to Terengganu, while Negeri Sembilan beat T-Team 4-2.

At the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, who last lifted the Malaysia Cup trophy in 2001, dashed Selangor's hopes of taking the trophy introduced in 1921.

The homesters clearly capitalised on the homeground advantage and managed to make several threatening attacks into the opponent's goal area as early as the first minute, but this was denied by Selangor goalie G.Jeevanathan.

Selangor earlier broke into the Terengganu defence and threatened goalie Mohd Sharbinee Allawee Ramli, but Rudie Ramli's attempt in the 11th minute was discounted as the Selangor player was off-side.

Terengganu opened account in the 19th minute when Abdul Manaf Mamat beautifully converted the pass by Mohd Ashaari Samsudin.

The homester's second goal came in the 72nd minute through Mohd Asha'ari Shamsuddin, who fired from outside the penalty box.

In the second half, the Red Giants were in high spirit to break Terengganu's defence, but all their attempts at goal were foiled.

Selangor were under greater pressure after their player Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar was given the red card in the 75th minute for a rough tackle on Mohd Ashaari Samsudin.

Selangor's consolation goal came in the 87th minute through a header by Safiq Rahim following a confusion in the Terengganu penalty box.

Meanwhile, at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Paroi, the experience of the Negeri Sembilan players, who emerged as the runner-up last year, proved a difficult stumbling block for the opposing T-Team.

In the first half, relentless attacks by Hairuddin Omar, Mohd Firdaus Azizul and Shahurain Abu Samah, were foiled by the T-Team defence.

In the 32nd minute, S. Kunalan almost put Negeri Sembilan ahead, but his cross from outside the penalty box was parried by custodian Mohd Jibrail Kamaron Baharin, while no less than three attempts at goal subsequently were also denied by the T-Team defence.

In the second half, the T-Team were punished when Nor Fadly Alias was given a second yellow card and ordered off the field by referee Nagor Amir Nor Mohamad in the 58th minute, leaving the visitors with only 10 players on the field.

Nevertheless, this did not deter the visitors when Mohd Fitri Omar found the Negeri Sembilan net in the 72nd minute.

The visitors' joy was short-lived when Shahurain equalised one minute later which received loud applause from the more than 40,000 home crowd.

Negeri Sembilan skipper Shukor Adan further punished the T-Team by scoring another goal for the homesters in the 84th minute.