BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Despite the countless chances they had against Selangor in their Super League tie on Friday, Terengganu FC failed to pick up a point at the Shah Alam Stadium, when they lost 1-0.
More frustratingly, the only goal of the match was scored by their former star, Faiz Nasir in the 56th minute.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Turtles head coach Irfan Bakti Abu Salim expressed his disappointment with his charges' lack of finishing.
"If we don't score, the opponents will; it's as simple as that! What's the point of dominating the game especially in the second half, without putting away the chances? I'm disappointed.
"When we lost 3-0 to Pahang I couldn't complain much because my men's performance was simply below par. But today they controlled the game and created chances. I told them that Faiz, our former player, was the only Selangor attacker who could threaten us. The rest were nothing to worry about. Selangor's numbers nine and 14 (Sandro da Silva and Endrick dos Santos) were not great.
"My men created a lot of chances, but not a lot of them were clear-cut. The only good chance I saw was the one had by Tchetche [Kipre], late in the second half. He should have scored from that, knowing the quality that he has," said Irfan.
Irfan was referring to the chance had by the Ivorian striker deep in injury time, when the ball was knocked into his path in the Selangor penalty box, with only the goalkeeper Farizal Harun to be beaten. Instead, the former team captain only managed to slam the ball into Farizal's face and failed to make the golden chance to equalise count.
After seven matches this season, the second best 2018 Super League scorer has not found the back of the net even once.
In the presser, Irfan could only express his bemusement at Kipre's dip in form.
"He still hasn't scored and I'm very disappointed," noted the experienced trainer. "As a striker his main task is to score, and if he can't do that it means that he has failed. We'll still give him a chance, but there's only four rounds left in the first half of the season.
"I'll sit down with the board and discuss the next course of action [regarding Kipre]. We can't wait too long. I'm not sure whether we'll sign a replacement [in the mid-season transfer window], but we have to get to the bottom of the goal dearth."
Follow Goal Malaysia s Instagram account to see photos and watch videos from Malaysian football!
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
