PETALING JAYA, 29 Aug – Six-times champion, Johor Darul Takzim maintained their unbeaten record with a narrow 3-2 win over Pahang at the Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan when the Super League resumed on Friday.
However, Perak lost their unbeaten record when the Bos Gauros fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Melaka United at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh with Ferris Danial netting the winner in the 52nd minute.
Felda United was another home team to taste defeat on Friday – losing 1-0 to UiTM at the Tun Abdul Razak Stadium in Jengka.
UiTM played their cards right to put pressure on the Fighters and came with full points when Mark Hartmann hammered the winner after 39 minutes.
The plum tie in Kuantan saw JDT taking the lead as early the fifth-minute Argentine midfielder Leandro Velazquez blasted a freekick and Ramadhan Saifullah, promoted to the senior team from JDT II found the net after 15 minutes.
Ramadhan had a hand in JDT’s third goal in the 35th minute when he earned a penalty. Another of JDT’s Argentine imports Gonzalo Cabrera made no mistake from the spot to give the Southern Tigers a commanding 3-0 lead.
However, the Elephants, despite being ill-prepared for the match due to various factors, showed tremendous fighting spirit to pull two goals back in a spate of five minutes to give themselves a fighting chance of saving the match.
Faisal Halim took full advantage of a horrendous error by JDT goalkeeper Farizal Marlias on 41 minutes to roll the ball into the net and deep into injury time before the halftime break French defender Herold Goulon got the second.
Pahang fought hard to get a third goal but JDT held out for a narrow win to keep their place at the top with 13 points after five matches. Despite the defeat, Perak retained their second spot with eight points with Terengganu (four matches) in the third spot with seven points – the same as UiTM.
Melaka and Pahang are in the fifth and sixth spots with six points each from five matches.
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