There were no advantage to be had for the home teams as three away wins were secured in the first leg of the 2017 Malaysia Cup quarterfinal stage.
Kedah's Ken Ilso and Johor Darul Ta'zim's (JDT) Mohammed Ghaddar both grabbed a brace in matches played on Friday night but they would be upstaged by PNKP's Shahrel Fikri.
The 24-year-old Manjung born forward scored a hattrick against Felda United as PKNP continue to produce surprise in the competition to gain a memorable 3-1 win at Tun Abdul Razak Stadium.
Having only recently earned his first international cap for Malaysia, Shahrel showed the progression in his game with strikes in the 11th, 45th and 68th minute of the match.
Hadin Azman's 77th minute goal was nothing more than a consolation goal for B. Sathianathan's men but it will at least give them some form of hope ahead of the return leg in Ipoh.
Similar stories emerged in the two other matches played on Friday with Kedah edging Selangor 3-2 at Selayang Stadium while JDT triumphed 4-1 against Melaka United.
At the Hang Jebat Stadium, league champions JDT found the big first leg lead that they were looking for and didn't have to wait too long to get their party started.
Fazly Mazlan's cross in the 7th minute was inadvertently pushed onto the path of Ghaddar by Melaka's keeper, Fazli Paat. The Lebanese accepted the open invitation to tap home the opening goal for JDT.
The same combination worked again in the 34th minute but this time without the intervention of the keeper. Ghaddar headed home his second of the night, after Fazly had produced a pinpoint cross following a mazy run down the left.
Marco Simic scrambled home one for the home side just before half time but it only served to drive JDT further after the interval.
Ignacio 'Natxo' Insa started a move in the 68th minute before rushing into the penalty box to convert a cross from Gonzalo Cabrera, Melaka again failing to deal with crosses coming in from the left hand side.
Insa would then turn provider six minutes before the end of normal time, laying off a wonderful pass for Safiq Rahim to push past Khair Jones before slamming home the fourth goal for JDT.
There would be one more match of the first leg to be played on Saturday with Pahang welcoming the visit of Perak at Darul Makmur Stadium.
