KELANTAN ON FIRE DEFEATED SELANGOR 3-0 INTO THE SEMIS

KELANTAN are through into the semi-final with a convincing 3-0 win against Selangor in the second-leg of the Malaysia Cup quarter-final at Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium last night. Kelantan took a 2-0 lead in the first half through Mohamad Norfarhan (13th min) and Akmal Rizal (24th min). Badhri Radzi completed the rout in the 78th minute.

Right from the kick-off Selangor were the early aggressor and on a few occassion they had  some goalscoring opportunity but fail to capitalise. The Red Giants paid a heavy price when  Mohamad Norfarhan stunned the visitor with a left foot drive right into the right hand top corner of the post past the diving Hamsani for a 1-0 lead as early in the 13th minute.

The goal brought huge relief for the home side to settle their nerves under the noisy atmosphere. Kelantan begin to create some anxious moments and and putting K.Devan side under tremendous pressure. Their hardwork paid off with their second goal of the night in the 24th minute.

Kelantan captain's Indra Putra Mahyuddin find acres of space on the left and cooly place his cross perfectly for Akmal Rizal to plant in a flying header past Hamsani.

Selangor had a glorious chance to come back into the match in the 34th minute. Striker Safi Saliee struck a fine volley just outside the box but saw his shot just skimmed over the bar.

In the second half, Selangor fails to uplift the tempo that force K.Devan making a double substitution for uneffective Safi Saliee and Syafiq Rahim to make way for Rudie Ramlie and Faderin Kadir. The changes did have an impact on the newly crown Super League champions and they began to dominate the play.

In the 58th minute from Amri Yahyah cross into the box was well dummied by Rudie Ramlie drop perfectly into R. Surendran. The striker hits a powerful drive but Khairul Fahmi made a splendid save to deny Surendran. A minute later substitute Faderin Kadir exactly in the same situation had a another great chance but the Kelantan goalkeeper once again pull off another oustanding save.

Selangor looks far much more better side than the first half and they began to string their passes well and dictate the play at will. In the 76th minute Amirulhadi Zainal had a goal scoring chance in the box but he waited a second too long before seeing his shot was well blocked by a defender.

Again the visitor was punished for their earlier misses when Kelantan grabbed their third goal in the 78th minute to strenghten their grip. Akmal Rizal brilliantly evade past two Selangor defenders on the left made a quick left footed cross over the opponent defence for midfielder Badhri Radzi to collect and tucked it firmly past Hamsani into the net.