MSL 11: Sarawak 1-3 Terengganu

Original articles taken from http://sarawakcrocs.com.

Crocs fall again in Stadium Negeri. The once mighty Crocs dropped further in the league tonight after they fell hard to Terengganu 1-3 at home.

The wet and slippery pitch didn’t help both teams which started the game cautiously.

Terengganu adapted to the soggy pitch the fastest and started throwing multiple shots on Sarawak’s defenses. Sarawak replied through Hassan Mohamad, but the shot on goal by Hassan went straight to goalkeeper Sharbinee Alawee.

Zairo Anuar finally silence the huge Sarawakian crowd in Stadium Negeri by putting the ball in the net through a free kick which was not caught properly by Sani Anuar, but was powerful enough to roll into the goal. Sarawak fought back with every muscle they had and a pass by Ryan Grifith to Rashid Aya was blasted to the top right of the Terengganu goal to put the score level with a fantastic screamer.

Hassan Mohamad had another chance on Terengganu’s goal a few minutes later, but despite him being brought down in the box, the referee didn’t feel it was a penalty and awarded a fruitless corner instead. This was followed soon after by a fantastic one-two by Ryan and Hassan, but Mohd Lot’s final touch was no where near a goal.

After the breather, Terengganu took over the game by attacking Sarawak’s defence line with quality short passes. Hassan however managed to intercept one of the many passes and made a wonder dribble from the Sarawak half to the Terengganu box, but his greed saw him not pass the ball to an unmarked S Chanturu, with his final strike way off target.

Another chance was given to Hassan soon after but his shot was straight to Sharbinee.

Realizing there was lack of creativity from his side, Sarawak head coach Robert Alberts ejected Mohd Lot for Joseph Kalang. Joseph didn’t disappoint as his first touch almost hit the target, thanks to good dribbling by the Sarawakian.

Hassan sang the same song moments later when he yet again shoot the ball high and wide to blow a perfect goal scoring chance a chance despite Joseph having a better position to score.

A counter attack by Terengganu then silenced the capacity stadium when Moustapha Dabo blasted in a poor clearance into the Sarawak back net to put the East coast team ahead again.

Sarawak tried to reply but Chanturu shot the ball high despite having the goal at his mercy.

Another counter attack by Terengganu not only caught the Sarawak defence napping, but also caught Sani Anuar off guard as he could only look at Nor Farhan’s shot sailed above him from a good 30 yards, into the back of Sarawak’s net, to put Terengganu three goals up.

The goal demoralized the Sarawak squad, and the inclusion of Ashri Chuchu and Dzulazlan failed to help the Crocs regain life from then on.

Despite three minutes of added time, the Crocs failed to score and were declared the losers at full time.