KUALA LUMPUR (11 Jan 2012) – Kelantan made up for their loss in the Charity Shield with a close 2-1 win over LIONSXII in their first game of the Malaysian Super League at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night.
What made the win more memorable was the fact that Kelantan had to fight back from a goal down before they were able to win all three points in front of more than 7,000 fans.
“I thought the atmosphere was amazing. The crowd came out in support of the home team and it was a good atmosphere to play football in. This can only be good for Asian football and I am also glad that we sealed three points to start the campaign. I felt the rain suited our style of play as this pitch tends to get even faster when it is wet,” said Kelantan chief coach Peter Butler.
Baihakki Khaizan had given the homesters the lead on 33 minute before Norshahrul Idlan Talaha leveled the score for the east coast side with a minute remaining of the first half.
Mohammed Ghaddar then converted a penalty in the 79th minute to give the visiting side all three points.
“The atmosphere was wonderful and it was unfortunate that we could not give the fans a win to kick start our Malaysia Super League campaign. However, my boys did really well and you could see that they had the fight in them and we will take this with us as we now focus on the next match. This is a marathon, and we will continue to improve,” said LIONSXII coach V.Sundramoorthy.
In the meantime, Terengganu’s T-Team grabbed the lead on the first day of the Malaysian Super League when they beat Kedah 3-0 at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
The goals for Terengganu came off Mohd Faiz Subri (12th and 29th minute) and Zairo Anuar Zalani (33rd).
Elsewhere, Charity Shield 2012 winners Negeri Sembilan were held to a 2-2 draw by Selangor at the Stadium Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Seremban.
Import Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona gave Negeri the lead with a brace in the 4th and 34th before Selangor replied through Amirulhadi Zainal (66th minute) and Safiq Rahim (73rd).
Newly-promoted side Sarawak raced to second at the table with an easy 2-0 win over Kuala Lumpur as Felda United also grabbed the full points with the same 2-0 score line over Sabah.
In Ipoh, Perak had the solitary strike from Mithal Kubala in the 75th minute to thank for their 1-0 win over Terengganu as Johor FC beat Selangor PKNS 2-1 in the other game.
| No | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | PBDKT T-Team FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 3 |
| 2 | Felda United FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
| 3 | Sarawak FA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
| 4 | Johor FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 |
| 5 | Kelantan FA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 |
| 6 | Perak FA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 |
| 7 | Negeri Sembilan FA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Selangor FA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | PKNS FC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0 |
| 10 | Singapore LIONSXII | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0 |
| 11 | Terengganu FA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| 12 | Kuala Lumpur FA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| 13 | Sabah FA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| 14 | Kedah FA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0 |
