JOHOR BARU (20 Sept 2015) – Johor Darul Takzim were given a run for their money by demoted Armed Forces before securing a 3-2 win in a Group B Malaysia Cup match at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi on Saturday.
The Southern Tigers also had defender Amer Saidin sacked deep into injury time just after Honduran Jerry Palacios scored from the spot for Armed Forces’ second goal of the night to finalise the score 3-2 in JDT’s favour.
The Super League champions were 3-0 up after 51 minutes and were dominating against the soldiers with goals by Marcos Antonio (11th), Mahali Jasuli (28th) before skipper Safiq Rahim got the third with his trademark freekick that sailed into the top right corner leaving goalkeeper Syed Adney stunned.
However, Armed Forces who lost their opening match to Sarawak 1-0 through a last minute goal by Joseph Kallang Tie last week never gave up and kept the fight till the last whistle after Nigerian Abdulafees Abdulsalam narrowed the deficit through a penalty in the 69th minute.
At the Perak Stadium in Ipoh former international Bobby Gonzales punished his homestate when he took full advantage of a poor header by Ramesh Lai to his goalkeeper Iqbal Suhaimi to drill home a grounder into the far corner for the winner in the 63rd minute in another Group B match.
In a Group A match played at the Pasir Gudang Stadium, Singapore outfit Lions XII snatched full points with the winning goal coming in injury time through Safuwan Baharudin. Safuwan had earlier given his team the lead on 23 minutes but Nicolas Delmonte scored from a penalty to make it 1-1 in the 72nd minute.
Selangor registered their first win in two matches with a 1-0 win over T-Team in a Group C match at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu. Australian Guillerme de Paula was a on target with a long ranger effort in the 51st minute. The Red Giants suffered a 3-0 defeat to Kelantan in their first match.
Defending champions Pahang scored their second win in as many matches to remain unbeaten in Group D – defeating Premier League side PKNS FC 2-0 at the Selayang Stadium.
Azamuddin Akil who scored a hattrick in the 4-3 win over Police last week opened scoring for the Elephants on 59 minutes before Dickson Nwakaeme added the second in injury time.
In another Group D match played at the Shah Alam Stadium a 3-3 draw gave Police and Penang their first points after two matches.
Former JDT player Azinee Taib scored a brace for Penang with goals in the 20th and 80th minute while Korean Lee Gil-hoon got one in the 56th minute. Police scored through former Negri Sembilan player Shahurain Abu Samah (33rd), Ali Ashfaq (43rd) and Mohamadou Sumareh (87th) for a share of the spoils.
MALAYSIA CUP RESULTS (SATURDAY SEPT 19)
GROUP A
JDT II 1 LIONS XII 2
GROUP B
FORCES 2 JDT 3
PERAK 1 SARAWAK 0
GROUP C
T TEAM 0 SELANGOR 1
GROUP D
PKNS FC 0 PAHANG 2
POLICE 3 PENANG 3
