The Red Warriors suffered a huge embarrassment when they were clobbered 6-1 by Maldivian side Maziya Sports in their AFC Cup penultimate Group G match at the National Stadium in Male on Tuesday.
Despite the loss, Kelantan are through to the last 16 with 10 points. But the huge defeat has been hard to swallow.
Team manager Azman Ibrahim said they hoped to put the debacle behind and look ahead to the coming matches, beginning with the Super League home tie against T-Team in Kota Baru on Saturday.
“It was one of the worst results in my nine-year tenure with the state football team. We have got to do a post-mortem and stop the rot as soon as possible,” said Azman after the team’s return from Maldives yesterday.
The under-strength Kelantan started the match brightly, with Haris Safwan Kamal opening accounts in the seventh minute.
But the early fire fizzled out once defender Mohd Zamri Ramli was red-carded in the 28nd minute. This led to Kelantan conceding five goals in a 30-minute spell in the second half.
Maziya scored their goals through Ahmed Rasheed (40th), Assadhulla Abdulla (56th), Ismail Easa (76th), Hassan Aduham (82nd and 84th) and Imran Ali (86th) to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the knockout stage.
Kelantan lead the table with 10 points. Vietnamese side SHB Da Nang have nine points after edging Ayeyawady United of Myanmar 3-2 while Maziya have seven points.
The east coast giants have been on a downward spiral since losing their 32-match unbeaten home record to Armed Forces (3-1) at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru on April 13.
Last week, they slumped to their second straight loss in the Super League – going down 2-1 to club side PKNS FC.
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