SELAYANG (23 Aug 2015) – Ten-man Johor Darul Takzim can thank their lucky stars in retaining their Malaysian Super League title despite a 2-1 defeat to Felda United in their final match of the season at the Selayang Stadium on Saturday.
The Southern Tigers have to thank Terengganu for the title via the back door as the Turtles raised their game to stop JDT’s nearest challengers Pahang with a 3-1 win at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Gong Badak, Kuala Terengganu.
JDT garnered 46 points for the title while Pahang finished runners-up with 44 points while Selangor took third spot with 39 points. Terengganu’s efforts gave them fourth place with 38 points.
JDT were reeling from shock after only seven minutes of play when they were reduced to 10 players after Junior Eldstal was given a direct red card and found themselves trailing 2-0 after Indra Putra Mahayuddin converted the ensuing spot kick.
The match was only four minutes old when Shahrul Saad was on target with a header which left the Southern Tigers stunned. But there was more to come when referee Shamsuddin Ibrahim did not hesitate to take out his red card after Junior Eldstal brought down Felda’s Ndumba Makeche inside the box.
JDT players were shell shocked to find themselves 1-0 down and reduced to 10 players after seven minutes. The visiting players surrounded the referee but the man with the whistle stood his ground.
From the ensuing spot kick veteran Indra Putra Mahayuddin made no mistake from the spot. Felda 2-0 up and it looked it was not JDT’s night at the Selayang Stadium even when Argentine hitman Luciano Figueroa scored his 12th league goal.
It came via a penalty after Felda’s Christie Jayaseelan was hauled up for hands inside the box. The scoreline read Felda 2 JDT 1 and it remained that way until the final whistle.
JDT’s night actually was happening in Kuala Terengganu. The Turtles certainly did JDT a big, big favour with a 3-1 win over Pahang.
The homesters opened scoring through Issey Nakajima after 15 minutes. Pahang’s title hopes went up in smoke when former international Ashaari Shamsuddin the second goal for Terengganu in the 33rd minute.
Damion Stewart pulled one back for Pahang in the 47th minute but Nasril Izzat sealed the match for Terengganu in the 70th minute.
At the Perak Stadium in Ipoh, Selangor snatched a 2-0 win over the homesters which gave them 39 points and third place in the league. Hazwan Bakri (27th) and Guilherme De Paula (70th) were the scorers for the Red Giants.
In other matches Kelantan edged Sarawak 4-3 in Kota Bahru while Lions XII outplayed relegated Sime Darby 3-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium and Police defeated another relegated team – Armed Forces 3-2 at the Shah Alam Stadium.
FINAL SUPER LEAGUE RESULTS (Aug 22)
FELDA UNITED 2 JDT 1
PERAK 0 SELANGOR 2
KELANTAN 4 SARAWAK 3
LIONS XII 3 SIME DARBY 0
TERENGGANU 3 PAHANG 1
POLICE 3 A.FORCES 2
