KUANTAN: A tactical tweak in the second half allowed Sri Pahang FC to adopt a more aggressive approach and bounce back from 2-0 down to hold Terengganu FC to a 2-2 draw at home in the Super League clash yesterday (October 29).
Pahang head coach Fandi Ahmad said the change in tactics was inevitable as his men were slow and lacklustre.
"Our players have been out of action for too long, they took time to adapt to the game. This is different compared to Terengganu, who were in action more often as they also compete in the AFC Cup and Malaysia Cup.
"That's why I had to make a tactical tweak, to put more pressure on our opponents instead of just stringing passes that were easily intercepted by the Terengganu players," he told reporters after the match at the Darul Makmur Stadium here.
Terengganu opened the scoring in the 25th minute through their Iranian midfielder Omid Nazari, who then doubled their lead in the 72nd minute. The Elephants managed to reduce the deficit through Brazilian forward Rafael Feital Da Silva six minutes later before Argentinian born skipper Sergio Fabian Aguero netted the equaliser in the 80th minute.
Fandi said Terengganu's move in slowing down the pace of the game also played into their hands as it helped Sri Pahang dominate the game and score twice.
"Terengganu were contented playing a counter-attacking game to safeguard their 2-0 lead and that gave us the chance to regain our composure and stage a comeback.
"Kudos to to my players for not giving up and this is the kind of character that we should have in the team," he said.
Meanwhile, the Turtles manager, 57-year-old Croatian Tomislav Steinbruckner, described his team's performance as "good", saying they controlled the match more in the first half and at the beginning of the second half, besides creating many chances.
"We led twice and had more scoring chances but our finishing let us down. Our opponents then seized on the opportunity to draw level due to our mistakes," he said while denying claims that he had fielded second stringers for the match against Pahang. – Bernama