Negeri Sembilan's two-year wait for the Malaysia Cup ended with a 2-1 victory against Terengganu at the Stadium Shah Alam, here Saturday night.
Hairuddin Omar emerged the hero for the Hoben Jang Hoben team after scoring the winning goal, breaking the 1-1 deadlock earlier in the game.
The last time Negeri Sembilan won the Cup was in 2009, beating Kelantan 3-1.
Playing in front of 70,000 supporters, both teams went on the offensive right from the starting whistle but no goals were forthcoming.
Negeri Sembilan could have scored first in the early minutes of the game but Hairuddin's attempt only managed to rock the goal post.
In the 23rd minute, Terengganu's sensational striker Abdul Manaf Mamat shook off his markers and made a shot pass Negeri Sembilan's goalkeeper Mohd Farizal Marlias but the shot hit the bar.
A minute later, Negeri Sembilan launched a counter-attack which found S. Kunanlan inside the box but his shot went wide.
Terengganu finally found the much-awaited goal after the breather.
Abdul Manaf made an overlapping run in the flank before executing a well-calculated through pass which found Ashaari Samsudin inside the box.
Ashaari made no mistake with his grounder and put his team ahead 1-0 in the 59th minute.
Negeri Sembilan was unperturbed by the deficit and managed to level the score in the 81st minute through Kunanlan after miscalculation by the Terengganu goalkeeper, who failed to catch the ball which bounced from the ground off a lob from the striker.
Five minutes later, Hairuddin received a cross from the right and executed a scissor kick that brought home the winning goal.
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin presented the Cup to the winning team. Hairuddin was named Man of the Match.
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