KUALA TERENGGANU – Terengganu FC’s (TFC) pillar of defence, Pape Diakite, urged his teammates to tidy up their defence ahead of their Malaysia Cup home match aainst Sri Pahang FC this Tuesday.
According to Diakite, the excellent performance displayed by the Turtles in the first round away match at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan last Thursday needs to continue to ensure that they advance to the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Cup this season.
“I believe we did a great job at Stadium Darul Makmur last Thursday, but there always a room for improvement. I hope we can do better in our next game in front of our supporters,” he said when met here Friday.
TFC “trampled” the Elephants 5-1 in their Malaysia Cup opener on Thursday.
The huge victory puts TFC in a comfortable position and can be considered as already having ‘one foot’ in the quarter-finals even though the two teams will meet again in the return leg Nov 1 at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium (SSMZA) here.
Diakite said he is also recovering from a light injury that he picked up during the match against Sri Pahang FC.
However, he is confident that he can recover fast and be able help his teammates to solidify the Turtles’ defence so that they do not concede goals in the important match on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, teammate, Muhamad Shahrul Nizam Ros Hasni, who also plays in defence, said that he hoped his partnership with Diakite would continue to bear fruit and succeed in curbing the opponents from poaching goals.
“As a defender, the element of control and calmness is most important in ensuring that our goal is not breached. Not to mention playing in the Malaysia Cup which is a very prestigious tournament,” he said. – Bernama
