Hodak reminds his boys to stay firmly on the ground despite 2-1 win

Kelantan's Head Coach, Bojan Hodak urged his boys not to be carried away with the 2-1 win against Armed Forces in their first leg Malaysia Cup semi-final at the Selayang Municipal Stadium, near here, tonight.

He instead urged his players to intensify their effort to find more goals when both teams meet again in the second leg at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium in Kota Baharu on Oct 25.

"We should have scored more goals in today's match to ensure our smooth run to the final and I hope with the support of the spectators who will pack our home stadium next Friday, we will able to march into the final," he told reporters after the match, here, tonight.

Touching on tonight's match, the 42-year old Croatia-born coach said he was satisfied with the performance of his players although they only managed to score two goals.

"Good win for us but the game has not been decided yet...like I've said earlier, playing against Armed Forces is surely tough but I'm glad that the players converted the chances.

"In the early part of the first half, I was not satisfied because our opponents controlled the midfield...we also should have scored more goals to have a better advantage in the second leg," Hodak said.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces chief coach B. Sathianathan hoped his boys would bounce back when both teams meet again in the return leg on Oct 25.

"Whether we like it or not, we have to score goals in Kota Baharu, knowing pretty well that scoring against Kelantan in Kota Baharu won't be easy," he said.

Sathianathan said injury to his main pillar in defence, Norfadzly Alias, midway through the second half was a contributing factor to the defeat, although the strike force were also to be blamed for not making their chances count.

"Without Norfadzly and the suspended Amiridzwan Taj Tajuddin in defence, we had difficulty keeping Dickson Nwakaeme at bay," he said.