Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Terengganu: Tampines Rovers captain Aleksandar Duric scored twice as the S.League champions revived their hopes of reaching the last 16 of the AFC Cup with a 2-0 away win over Malaysian FA Cup holders Terengganu on Tuesday.
Tampines had missed a number of opportunities when they lost 1-0 to the Malaysian side in their first Group F meeting in Singapore last Wednesday, but Duric struck late in the first half and again in stoppage time to give the visitors a deserved win at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium.
The victory handed Tampines their first win in the group and moved them up to four points, two points behind second-placed Terengganu and five behind leaders Kitchee of Hong Kong, who lost 1-0 to Vietnam's Song Lam Nghe An in Tuesday's other Group F game.
Tampines coach Steven Tan said that his team found it tough to play in the hot afternoon conditions on Malaysia's east coast but battled to get the result that they needed to keep alive their hopes of qualifying to the knockout stage for a fifth time.
"The weather was a killer for us. It had been raining for the last three days so it only made the conditions even tougher for us when the sun came out," he said.
"But our players managed to cope well with the challenges. We had a nine-hour bus journey from Singapore after our S.League match against Geylang last Saturday so we did not train too much and focussed more on our recovery for our third game in six days.
"It was a good disciplined performance. Terengganu had more of the ball and but we kept our shape well and we didn't rush things."
After failing to capitalise on his opportunities against Terengganu last week, Duric opened the scoring in the 37th minute when the home side lost possession in midfield and the Tampines skipper received the ball from Fahruddin Mustafic on the right of the Terengganu box before drilling home from the edge of the six-yard area.
Duric struck the woodwork twice in the second half but sealed the win in stoppage time when the visitors launched a counter-attack and the visiting captain ran through on goal, side-stepping a challenge from a defender before producing another empathic finish.
"This is a tough place to get a result so we can take plenty of positives from our win and hopefully we can carry on like this throughout the season," Tan added.
Terengganu coach Mat Zan Aris, meanwhile, felt that his side failed to make the most of their possession.
"I'm disappointed with the result because we controlled the play but we made so many mistakes and they proved to be costly," he said.
"Hopefully, we can recover and get a better result in our next game against Song Lam."