KOTA BAHRU (17 Sept 2018) – Kelantan pulled off a 2-0 win over last year’s runners-up Kedah in their final Group C match to march into the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals to give their football die-hard fans plenty to cheer at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium on Sunday.
While it was a perfect Malaysia Day present for the Red Warriors who will ply their football trade in the lower tier Premier League season next year it was heartbreak for MISC-MIFA with five-time Super League champions Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) putting K. Devan’s team to the sword with a 3-0 whitewash at the Shah Alam Stadium.
The win was sweet revenge for JDT for the shock 2-1 defeat to MIFA at the Larkin Stadium in a first-round match.
The Southern Tigers topped Group C with nine points while Kelantan, with eight points, the same as MIFA, took the second spot on goal difference – for a miserable night at the Shah Alam Stadium.
JDT woke up in the second half to blast three goals with the first two coming in a spate of 10 minutes. Gonzalo Cabrera started the rout with a penalty goal in the 53rd minute and 10 minutes later international Safawi Rasid made it 2-0.
Safawi rounded up the win with his second on the night on 82 minutes – a goal that knocked out MIFA from the quarter-finals.
Kelantan rode on Danial Ashraf’s first in the 52nd minute off an assist by Nik Akif Syahiran. Nik Akif then added his name into the scoresheet deep into added time for Kelantan’s well-deserved win.
