Kedah start to shine under Radhi

AFTER just two matches in charge, Radhi Mat Din has succeeded in turning around the fortunes of Kedah but he still has some way to go to win over the fans.


Saturday's 1-0 Super League success against Kuala Lumpur in Cheras followed a 2-1 home win over Terengganu prior to the international break, which came after Radhi took over the reins from Ahmad Yusoff who was "rested".

But Kedah still needed a last minute winner from Azmi Muslim to snatch the three points and Radhi was the first to admit that there remains much to do.

"Our first half performance was neither here nor there. That was not the real Kedah. Had KL scored, there would have been no way back for us," said Radhi after the match at KLFA Stadium.


"But we did better in the second half, we pressed KL for 15-20 minutes, we were compact and able to hit them on the break with some success. We did not quite expect the goal to come so late."

Azmi volleyed home from outside the box after Norazlan Razali's punch off a corner did not get much distance although KL should have been given a free-kick as the KL goalkeeper appeared to have been fouled but referee Anuar Che Husin allowed play to carry on.

The win lifted Kedah to sixth place in the table ahead of their home game against Johor FC tomorrow with Radhi insisting the winning mentality is back even as the Kedah Ultras unveiled a banner criticising manager Datuk Khazali Din.

"During the break, we had a chance to right what was wrong and we used the two weeks to lift the morale of the players. We need time to make progress and improve the level of the players," added Radhi, who captained Kedah's 1993 Malaysia Cup-winning team.

Radhi has a concern over Sabre Mat Abu when they take on Johor FC after the midfielder was replaced at half-time with an injury while right-back V. Thirumurugan also hobbled off in the second half.

KL, who have not scored from open play in their last six matches, dropped to 11th in the table with coach Razip Ismail still puzzling over his non-firing strikers.

Injuries have also robbed KL of playmaker Azwan Malek and defenders Farouk Hashim and Farid Ramli. They travel to Paroi to face Negri Sembilan tomorrow.