Last night Terengganu began their 2009 Malaysian Super League campaign on a low note, losing 3-2 in front of their own fans to Perlis.

The three goals conceded were results from high balls pumped into the box. In the past, the towering presence of Brazillian import Fabio Flor usually would take care of the problem. His departure towards the end of last season was not really felt by the team as skipper Marzuki Yusof was partnered by an equally sound defender who was loaned from KL PLUS FC for the Malaysia Cup campaign.

Efforts to sign the defender on permanent basis failed as the Klang Valley club was not keen to lose one of their quality players.

Thus coach Mohamad Nik opted to partner the skipper with another new signing, Shahrizam Mohamad. The partnership looked shaky during the pre-season Mentri Besar Cup tournament. Last night against Perlis their flaw was exposed for the world to see.

Two crosses into the box and they did not deal with them properly. The third goal came from a free-kick which was a nightmare for a goalkeeper but a good defender would have been able to cut out the effort from Chan Wing Hoon.

One good thing about last night was our ability to bounce back after going down twice. More work need to be done in the final third of the pitch as many of our attacks came unstuck there. The new partnership of Abdul Manaf Mamat and Azlan Ismail looked good especially with the latter's ball control and work-rate.

Unfortunately he was let down with poor finishing as he failed to find the target on three occassions while had another one saved by the Perlis goalkeeper, Farizal Marlias.

Another new signing, Tengku Hazman Raja Hassan showed glimpses of touches that made him one of the top midfielders in the country sometime ago. His partnership with Zairo Anuar Zalani potential though he ran out of steam towards the end.

Zairo on the other hand had a good start by scoring the second equaliser from his trademark freekick.

National player, Ashaari Shamsuddin did not have the best of time on the pitch last night. Missing the penalty on the hour which could have sparked the home side revival was perhaps a kick in the backside that he needs to remind him that a lot of work are still needed in order for him to become a really consistent performer on the pitch.

Hopefully Mohamad Nik and his staff will be able to iron out these problems by the time they took the pitch against KL PLUS at the KLFA Stadium on Tuesday. Perhaps three points is a bit too much to ask but surely it will come in handy to get the season on the right track after a minor derailment on Saturday. 

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The Malaysia football season will kick off this Saturday with the Charity Cup or the official name of it: The Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup between treble winners Kedah against beaten Malaysia Cup finalist; Selangor.

For the first time ever, Terengganu will have two representatives in the Malaysian League.

Terengganu, the traditional powerhouse and the team which many Ganuans have thrown their support will be joined by T-Team. Both teams however are in different divisions, with Terengganu plying their trade in the Super League while FAM Cup champions T-Team will make their professional debut in the Premier League.

The opening day of the season will see Terengganu hosting Perlis at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Shah Stadium. Then they will travel to the capital to play KL PLUS FC at the KLFA Stadium in Cheras on Tuesday before coming back to the East Coast to host UPB-MyTeam on Saturday.

T-Team meanwhile will play their first ever professional match on Friday, hosting Melaka at the Sultan Mizan before making the same trip to the capital. Their opponent at the MPS Stadium is the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Both teams have astute and experienced coaches in Mohd Nik and Che Ku Marzuki, ironically both of them were in the same Terengganu team that qualified to the last four of the Malaysia Cup where they bowed out to eventual winners, Kedah.

The recent FAM ruling that foreign players are no longer permitted to play in the Malaysian League has brought a bit of equality among competing teams. The move should benefit teams as they would be able to save on the high salaries paid to the foreign players.

Another aspect this ruling could help is the development of more Malaysian players who should grab this opportunity to showcase their potentials and abilities to the fans, who by the recent poor showing by the national team at the AFF Suzuki Cup will be more skeptical in parting with their hard earned money to watch the Malaysian League.

Both Terengganu and T-Team have made acquisitions to strengthen their squads. 

Terengganu's success in the four team pre-season tournament, the Mentri Besar Cup should bolster the players' confidence and gives Mohd Nik the idea who will be the core players to bring success to Terengganu.

Meanwhile T-Team will be banking on the many returning Terengganu born players for the maiden Premier League campaign. Experience should be the key as many of them have played at the top level of Malaysian football before. Based on that promotion to the Super League should be a reasonable target for this season.

Achieving that will mean possible derby matches which should be interesting to say the least. For this season the only possibility of them meeting will be the final of the FA Cup as both teams have been drawn in different sections of the draw.

Many football fans in Terengganu are hoping both teams will be successful in their campaigns this season.

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