Lee’s emphatic hattrick takes Terengganu into final

Andrew Lee Tuck scored his second successive hattrick as Terengganu FC romped into the final of the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup with a 4-2 victory over Mohun Bagan at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chattogram yesterday.

The English striker, who scored a hattrick in their last group match against Bashundhara Kings, twice gave the Malaysian side the lead with two brilliant free-kicks, only for Mohun Bagan’s Spanish forward Francisco Munoz to hit back. But Syafik Bin Ismail regained Terengganu’s lead before Lee Tuck completed his treble, ensuring a comprehensive victory for the Malaysian outfit.

Terengganu will face hosts Chattogram Abahani in the final tomorrow.

The hattrick took the Englishman to the top of the scorer’s chart with six goals.

Terengganu had shown impressive form in the group stages, scoring nine goals against five, but it was Kibu Vicuna’s Mohun Bagan who looked the better side in the first half, dominating possession and attacks.

However, after a few wasted opportunities from the Mohun Bagan forwards, Lee Tuck broke the deadlock in the 39th minute with a grounded free-kick past the wall.

The Malaysians took the lead into the break, but the Kolkata giants continued to impress, with Munoz getting them back on level terms two minutes after restart with a clinical spot-kick following a foul on Britto Pankras Metilda inside the box.

Terengganu were looking under pressure against a more physical Mohun Bagan side and were in search for inspiration, which came from their skipper Lee Tuck 12 minutes later.

The Englishman once again found the back of the net from a free-kick, this time a powerful 25-yarder curled right into the top right corner over the wall. Munoz though, hit the target two minutes later with a towering header on another free-kick to get the Green and Maroons back into the game.

It looked like anybody’s game at that stage but Syafik, the shortest man on the pitch and one of the most technically gifted ones, found a way past the Mohun Bagan defence to make it 3-2 with an angular shot on 74 minutes.

And then Lee Tuck completed a well-deserved hattrick from a spot-kick four minutes later, his sixth goal of the tournament and fifth goal from a set-piece in a match, to confirm Terengganu’s place in the final.