It was another night where six more MSL matches were played. In this review, the highlight match is the match between Selangor and Terengganu. The game was televised live on national television – RTM1. The six matches in MSL in this review are:
N.Sembilan vs Kedah- Perak vs Perlis
- UPB MyTeam vs Pahang
- Brunei vs PDRM
- Johor FC vs Penang
- Selangor vs Terengganu
N.Sembilan vs KedahMSL leader, Kedah, faced a resilient N.Sembilan backline in Seremban. The N.Sembilan defenders pulled off a superb performance in shackling the Kedah frontmen throughout the night. Kedah needed an excellent free kick execution from Marlon James to score in the 65th minute. He was kept quiet by the N.Sembilan defensive line. The N.Sembilan D managed to limit Marlon’s view at goal for the most of the night.
Just when Kedah fans were almost celebrating another win, N.Sembilan struck. Two minutes into stoppage time in the second half, Lamin Conteh netted for N.Sembilan. Off a corner kick, L.Conteh sprung up and connected with the ball, directing it past everyone into the goal.
Over in Ipoh, a 2-0 win over Perlis, surged Perak to move into the second spot in the MSL table. Perak’s goals came in the 28th and 66th minutes. Both Carlos Caceres and Khalid Jamlus were the scorer.
Pahang battled hard in Kelana Jaya and managed to find the net, twice, in the closing period of the match. Strikes by R.Surendran and Hairuddin Omar, in the 80th and 83rd minutes were enough for the visitors to collect the full three points for the night.
PDRM looked to be strolling for an away win in Brunei, when Nanthakumar and H.Echesa slotted in for PDRM in the 6th and 17th minutes. They, however, allowed Brunei to comeback with goals in the 24th and 76th minutes by Sharazin Said and Didier Belibi to share the spoils.
Johor FC routed Penang with a 4-0 win at home. Just when Penang thought they were getting into gear after winning the recent matches, Johor dealt them with this cruel blow of a thumping win. 2 strikes in each half proved too much for Penang as they went down tamely to Johor FC.
The night’s main match, which was televised on national TV (RTM1), was between Selangor and Terengganu. The match was delayed, due to power problems, for about one hour. Terengganu went for the kill from the kick off. Sending waves after waves of attacks and pressuring the Selangor backline. The pressure got to the head of even striker Safee Sali. In one incident in the 17th minute, he was shown the red card after retaliating against his marker, Fabio Flor.
Playing with only 10 men, Selangor woke up and began to make advances into the Terengganu area. Shukor Adan saw his 30m attempt crashing into the top post after beating the goalkeeper. Selangor’s best chance at scoring came deep in time added on when Amri Yahya was sent through by Elie Aiboy at the edge of the Terengganu box. Amri, with only the keeper to beat, scooped the ball over the keeper and also the Terengganu goal post.
The match’s fast paced tempo continued in the second half. Both teams sending attacking waves at each other, one after another. The attacks, however, lack finishing. Both side’s strikers failed to convert as both defensive lines stood firm to deny them any clear cut scoring opportunities.
Another red card was also flashed in the second half. This time around, it was to the Terengganu player – Mohd Norhisham, after a scuffle with Selangor’s P.Gunalan.
Both teams made changes in the middle of the second half to beef up their attack. The changes, however did not bring any changes to both team’s attacks. Their attacks were either foiled by the defense or ended with an ineffective crosses. In the end, the ineffectiveness of both strike forces, resulted in the teams sharing the points for the night.
The draw saw Selangor going down in the MSL table. They also failed to take advantage of Kedah’s draw with N.Sembilan to further close the gap between them. Perak, took advantage of both Kedah and Selangor’s failure to move up into the second spot in the MSL table.
Go Selangor !!!