Ignacio Insa, Johor Darul Ta'zimJohor Southern Tigers

JDT back to winning ways in the Super League

Ulisses Morais once again rotated his squad, this time fielding Afiq Fazail and Azrif Nasrulhaq for Hariss Harun and S. Kunanlan respectively. But that did little to dampen the strength of the team as is proved by the final result.

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That said, JDT could have been behind very early on when Farizal Marlias seemed to have caught Yahor Zubovich with a high challenge, when he attempted to get to a poor Fadhli Shas' back pass. However the referee only pointed to a goal kick and the home side can count themselves lucky to have escaped without further punishment.

The scare was the cue JDT needed to step up and a 22-minute saw them effectively finding the back of the net three times and ending the match as a contest.

First Luciano Figueroa headed in from a Safiq Rahim corner kick in the 13th minute, then the Argentine turned provider to Jorge Pereyra Diaz in the 21st minute. A deft flick put Diaz into space and he picked his spot with a well taken shot from outside the penalty box.

Just 10 minutes before half time, JDT added their third and final goal of the match as Ignacio 'Natxo' Insa reacted the quickest to a deflected Azrif shot to beat Zamir Selamat in Melaka's goal.

After the excitement of the first half, the second half would be a non-affair as JDT showed their game management to effectively shut the game out. So comfortable were they with the game, that influential Safiq was even afforded an early break, taken off at the hour mark to be replaced by Hariss.

The result move JDT back to the top of the pile in the standings depending on PKNS FC's match against Kedah on Sunday while Melaka drops two spots to 6th and could drop further if results on Sunday don't go their way.

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