Terengganu FC, passes to final round after beating Kuala Lumpur City with a score of 4-2 in the Piala Malaysia 2023 semi-final second leg at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium, Gong Badak.
Terengganu, who wanted to chase an early goal, got a second chance through Sony Norde in the 13th. Still, his shot was successfully blocked by the goalkeeper, Kevin Mendoza, as well as the shot of the captain, Habib Haroon, three minutes later, was again denied by the Philippine national goalkeeper.
Terengganu got two more good chances through Engku Nur Shakir and Liridon in the 22nd and 26th minutes, respectively, but KL City’s defense was still invulnerable to control their fortress from conceding.
However, in the 42nd minute, Croatian-born striker Ivan Mamut proved his poisonous touch when he made a smart shot in the penalty box from Nor Hakim Hassan’s pass to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Throughout the first half, KL City only got one accurate attempt through captain Paulo Josue’s header from Declan Lambert’s cross in the 35th minute that went slightly over the crossbar.
Aware of frequent pressure at the beginning of the second half, KL City, led by Nenad Bacina, introduced two new players, Kipre Tchetche and Ryan Lambert, to replace Sean Giannelli and Sebastian Avanzini.
Bacina’s play paid off when his attacker, Romel Morales easily headed in from Haqimi Azim’s cross which had previously been hit by the home defender, Ubaidullah Shamsul Fazili, in the 51st minute for a 1-1 tie.
Shocked by the visitors’ equaliser, TFC doubled their lead and in the 67th minute, Mamut once again stunned the home fans when he managed to score the second goal through a world-class shot from outside the penalty box for his team to lead 2-1.
A minute before the end of the match, KL City played with ten players after Kenny Pallraj was shown a second yellow card and then sent off the field by the referee, Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin, for fouling a TFC player.
The position remained until the end of the match thus seeing the mission to the final achieved after being stranded in the semi-finals last season.
Credit Photo : TFC
