PETALING JAYA: Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), who have made the Super League a one-horse race with their free-flowing football, were given a jolt when Terengganu showed them it was not going to be an easy walkover.
The Southern Tigers’ defence were made to work hard and they also had to deal with the Turtles’ speedy counters and aggression off the ball before eking out 1-0 win at the Sultan Mizan Stadium in Gong Badak on Saturday,
Matthew Davies, given the captain’s armband for the game, played a key role in defence combining well with South Korean Park Jun-heong and Azerbaijani international Eddy Israfilov to keep Terengganu at bay as JDT recorded their 13th clean sheet in all competitions this season.
“Terengganu made it difficult for us. We had to work hard for the result and maybe got a little lucky as well,” said Matthew, who started his Malaysian professional career as a rightback but has since switched to centreback.
“Our opponents played counter-attacking football and we had to tighten every area. We would like to do better in the upcoming matches.”
JDT are looking to seal the Super League title for the 11th straight time with six games left and can do so if they win the next two league games.
The club owned by Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim top the standings with 52 points in 18 matches, taking a 13-point lead from second-placed Selangor, who have 39 points.
“We still have work to do and we want to win all the matches.
“Let’s not forget, we also have the AFC Champions League Elite and also the Malaysia Cup second leg semi-final,” he said.
The semi-final match will be against Terengganu again, so JDT will have to be very wary.