New personal best for Sathianathan in the FA Cup

In his third spell in club management, B. Sathianathan finally got over the first hurdle in the FA Cup. When he was previously managing Kelantan and ATM, Sathianathan has always found the opening game of the cup competition to be a stumbling block, but no longer.

Felda United triumphed 5-2 over Felcra FC at Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday to put to bed the shadow that hung over Sathianathan and the FA Cup. 1-1 at the break, the tie went the way of Felda as the superior quality of The Fighters' attack came to show.

Thiago Augusto's second goal of the night in the second half gave Felda the lead for the first time in the match and they never looked back. Shukor Adan, Hadin Azman and Gilberto Fortunato all got in the act as well, as the game ran away from the plucky Felcra side.

"I want to thank my players because even though we were behind, we managed to come back. We knew Felcra was going to be tough, they have good calibre players especially the imports. Perhaps we had better of the luck because when we were leading 3-2, they had a chance to score but couldn't." 

"Not a very good game from us despite the 5-2 score. Well done to Felcra. Of the games we have played thus far, this was definitely the toughest that we have faced. If they can keep their squad fit, they will certainly be one of the challengers in the Premier League," said Sathianathan after the match.

The team now have won five out of the five game played thus far this season, the only team left in the top two tiers of Malaysian football to still hold a 100% record. Seemingly romping away with the Premier League, the FA Cup offers a chance for Sathianathan to test his team's mettle against the supposedly higher level opponents.