Norshahrul Idlan Talaha first match in the white and black colours of Terengganu did not end well after Felda United won the Super League match in Kuala Terengganu 3-1.
However his partnership with Paolo Rangel show promises to become a deadly one if given time when Norshahrul laid an assist for the Brazilian to score his first goal from open play since early March.
In fact with more playing time together they could build a good understanding not just between themselves but with other attacking players such as Issey Nakajima, Abdul Manaf Mamat and Ismail Faruqi.
The defeat came as many Terengganu fans were expecting a win due to the presence of Norshahrul in the Terengganu squad.
Felda United were tied with Terengganu in second place of the Super League table but the win enabled them to make it their own.
They took the lead almost against the run of play when a Shukor Adan near post header was parried by Sharbinee Allawee but Shamim Yahya was on hand to slot the loose ball home.
The visitors could have doubled the lead when their quick counter-attack say Mekeche Ndumba hitting the bar with a stiff shot. It was clearly over the line but the referee was too far away and his assistant was no help either.
Terengganu came out strongly in the second half and finally found the equaliser when Norshahrul broke through on the right before delivering a cross that was headed home by Rangel for his sixth goal of the season.
It should have been the catalyst for The Turtles to turn the match around.
However they lost influential midfielder, Ismail Faruqi to an injury from a reckless tackle by a Felda United player that went unpunished by the referee.
They created a number of chances that saw both Gustavo Lopez and Issey Nakajima went close but Farizal Harun was not to be beaten again tonight.
Instead it was his counterpart, Sharbinee who conceded two more goals as Felda United capitalised on Terengganu injury woes and below par performance.
Azlan Zainal who had been shaky all night long was finally taken off with Zairo Anuar coming on. Helmi Remeli took over as Vincent Bikana partner and Nordin Alias moved to right back.
Unfortunately, this was where Felda United broke through with their new signing, Christie Jayaselan got the better of Nordin and sent in a low cross which was turned into the net by Ndumba with ten minutes to go.
Three minutes later it got worse for The Turtles when Rangel misplaced a header and Felda United launched a quick counter-attack which in the end saw Zahan Ran putting his team 3-1 up.
The score remained until the final whistle.
