Kelantan crowned FA Cup champions

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

In a tight encounter, Lebanese striker Mohammed Ghaddar grabbed the only goal of the game in the 57th minute when he netted from the spot.

The triumph was the Red Warriors' first in the competition after they had fell short twice in 2009 and 2011, losing to Selangor and Terengganu respectively and given the dominant season they have had so far, it was no surprise that they started the match the brighter of the two teams.

Badri Radzi recorded the first meaningful effort of the game when he came close in the eighth minute with a cracking effort, while S. Chanturu was looking extremely lively for Kelantan down the flank early on.

For Sime Darby, left-winger Shoufiq Kusaini was tormenting his opponents, and the Premier League outfit's hopes of victory received a boost on the half-hour mark when Red Warriors coach Bojan Hodak was forced to replace S. Subramaniam after he received an elbow to the head from striker Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh.

Chanturu was presented with a good chance to open the scoring in the 37th minute when he was played through by Badri but saw his shot saved by Redzuan Harun, before Sime Darby had a goal ruled out for offside in the 52nd minute after Razali Umar nodded past Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.

Five minutes later, the deadlock was finally broken when Kelantan were awarded a penalty after Arif Ismail had bundled Chanturu over inside the area, allowing Ghaddar to step up and plant what proved to be the winner into the bottom corner of Redzuan's goal.

The FA Cup could be the first piece of silverware in what is shaping up to be a season to remember for Kelantan.

They are currently favourites to retain the Super League as they are only four points behind leaders LIONSXII with five games in hand, while they also have an AFC Cup Round of 16 tie against Terengganu to look forward to on Wednesday.