PENANG (27 Sept 2015) – Defending Malaysia Cup champions Pahang were left searching for answers as to what hit them at the City Stadium when Premier League outfit Penang scored a stunning 4-1 win – their first in Group D.
The defeat put the brakes on Pahang’s quarter-final hopes on a night when the Elephants simply had no answer to the hungry Panther’s onslaught to put Penang back in contention.
Penang has suffered a demoralising 3-0 defeat to PKNS FC in their first match which was played at home before picking up a valuable point with a thrilling 3-3 draw against Police away.
At the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore it was tale of mixed fortunes for Terengganu’s Brazilian hot-shot Paulo Rangel – returning to competitive football with a bang after serving a three-month suspension for gross misconduct but he could not stop Lions XII from carving out a thrilling 3-2 win.
Terengganu’s defeat came in the wake of a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Kedah also away last week. The Turtles are winless after three matches following a scoreless draw against Premier League’s JDT II at home in their first match.
Rangel helped himself to a brace to twice give Terengganu the lead with goals in the fourth and 44th minutes. But that was all Terengganu could do against Fandi Ahmad’s team.
Safuwan Baharudin turned out to be the toast for the Lions XII. After Sahil Suhaimi put Lions XII on equal footing to make it 1-1 on 35 minutes, Safuwan, who played in the Australian League early this year, took over the show.
The lanky Safuwan destroyed Terengganu with two headers – with his first coming in the 54th minute with a looping header off a long throw in by Madhu Mohana. His second, which also turned out to be the winner came in the 88th minute when he finished off a perfect cross from Christopher van Huizen.
The win sent the Lions to the top of the table with seven points, derived from a 1-1 draw against Kedah (home) and a 2-1 win over JDT II (away) in their first two matches.
Penang showed scant respect for Pahang’s reputation as the Malaysia Cup champions. Neither did Penang show mercy against the Elephants on a night the homesters dominated proceedings.
A brace from Failee Ghazali and a classy performance by goalkeeper Remezey Che Ros stood out for the homesters.
Failee ran into space to pick up a through ball from Azinee Taib’s first touch and he outran Mathew Davies before drilling home a grounder past Nasril Nourdin in Pahang goal in the 38th minute.
Things looked good for Pahang when Nigerian Dickson Nwakaeme rose to plant home a power packed header off a long cross from Zesh Rehman in the 41st minute. But that was as far as Pahang got with Nwakaeme fighting a lone battle upfront.
Zesh Rehman gave away a freekick when he clipped Hilton Moreira’s foot and it proved to be disastrous. From the ensuing kick Korean Lee Gil-hoon saw Failee making it 2-1 with a glancing header after 47 minutes.
Dickson had two opportunities to get Pahang into the picture but he was superbly denied by an alert Remezey.
And the hardworking Azinee Taib was a thorn in the Pahang side. The former JDT player took full advantage of a poor back ball to Saifulnizam Miswan and gleefully executed a beautiful chip into a yawning goal.
Substitute Alberto Goncalves headed home Penang’s fourth goal in the 83rd minute to round up a night of misery for Pahang.
In another shock result T-Team packed off Kelantan 3-1 at the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
Muhamad Zulhanizam hit a brace in the 14th and 21st minutes before Tomislav Busic scored the third in the 30th. Kelantan’s Gilmar da Silva netted the consolation goal for the Red Warriors in the 87th minute.
In another Group C match played at the Shah Alam Stadium, 32-time champions Selangor battled to a scoreless draw to share the spoils.
Perak were also at the receiving end when demoted Armed Forces pulled off a 2-0 win at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh. Jerry Palacios and Venice Elphi scored in the 39th and 89th minutes respectively.
MALAYSIA CUP RESULTS (Sept 26)
GROUP A
Lions XII 3 Terengganu 2
GROUP B
Perak 0 Armed Forces 2
GROUP C
Selangor 0 Felda United 0
T-Team 3 Kelantan 1
GROUP D
Penang 4 Pahang 1
