KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu FC had to dig deep to overcome a stubborn Felda United 4-3 in the Malaysia Cup quarterfinal at Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium today.
The home fans were given a big scare when Felda raced to a 2-0 lead and later 3-2 before Terengganu finally came alive to claim an aggregate 6-4 win in the tie.They now await the winners of the Johor Darul Ta'zim-Pahang tie.
With Terengganu having won the first leg 2-1, Felda were aware that they needed to cancel the away goals that Irfan Bakti's side had on them.
Just 13 minutes into the match, Felda were halfway there when Thiago Aquino nodded in from a corner kick.
Despite playing without star forward Thiago Augusto, Felda still looked the more threatening side in the first half but were guilty of wasting gilt-edged chances particularly through Iain Ramsey.
But the crucial goal did come three minutes after the half time break as the impressive Danial Amier danced into the box before his shot from an acute angle rebounded kindly for Syamim Yahya to tap home for Felda to lead 2-0.
The home fans finally had something to cheer in the 57th minute as the tireless Lee Tuck came up with an accurate shot from the edge of the box that left Farizal Harun stranded.
Buoyed by the goal, Terengganu continued to pressure the visitors and reclaimed their advantage in the tie. Substitute Faiz Nasir collected the ball inside the box and pulled it back for Adib Aizuddin whose overhit cross landed in the net beyond Farizal to give Terengganu the overall lead in the 69th minute.
But there was to be drama late on when Gilberto Fortunate's incredible overhead kick finished off a Aquino header 10 minutes later to give Felda the lead via away goals at aggregate of 4-4.
Then came the time for Malik Ariff to be the home hero when he got at the end of J. Parthiban's cut back to slam the ball past Farizal in the 81st minute to give his team the aggregate lead at 5-4.
Tchetche Kipre confirmed Terengganu's place in the next stage of the competition when he ran through to score to make it 4-3 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate to effectively kill any remaining hope by Felda.