Kelantan still confident they can beat Terengganu

Five players – two from Terengganu and three from Kelantan – were sent off in the match, which Terengganu won 3-1.

But Turtles coach Irfan Bakti knows that although they have won the bragging rights after the first leg, “we must go on and finish off the job on Friday”.

“The players showed great composure despite the very tense and rough encounter. We are glad to have scored three goals at home but there is another 90 minutes to play,” he said.

On the sending-off of five players, including Terengganu’s Ismail Faruqi Ashaari and Mohd Zubir Mohd Azmi, Irfan said he wasn’t all that surpris­ed as “our matches have always been explosive”.

“Some of the challenges made by our players probably did not deserve the red card. But the referee had already red-carded the Kelantan players, so he had no choice (but to send our players off too),” he said.

He also praised his players for showing great guts and determination.

Irfan said that although the Turtles held the advantage going into the second-leg, he might have to rethink his strategy now that he will be missing the two key players through suspensions.

“Don’t get me wrong, we will not park the bus in Kota Baru. In fact, we will still attack with gusto,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kelantan coach Datuk M. Karathu claimed that it was the Red Warriors who dominated the game and that the turning point was the sending-off of Mohd Daudsu Jamaluddin and Shakir Shaari.

“Terengganu scored the first goal after we were down to nine men. However, we still played well and created several chances and we even scored the equaliser,” he said, adding that his players “showed great spirit despite the decisions that went against us”.

Karathu believes his men will be able to overcome the two-goal deficit when they entertain Te­­ren­­g­ganu at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru and with 25,000 vociferous fans backing them.

“We may have lost three players through suspension but we have great depth in talent. We also scored a valuable away goal, so a 2-0 scoreline will be enough for us to go through,” said Karathu.