Abu Bakar remains confident of relegation escape

It is not the ideal situation to be among the bottom three with four rounds of matches remaining and one less game played to their fellow relegation rivals in Kuala Lumpur and Felda United, but Abu Bakar Fadzim is not throwing in the white towel just yet.

Just like they did against table topper Johor Darul Ta'zim, PKNP held their own against supposedly better opponents as they gave PKNS FC a run for their money in an exciting 2-2 draw at Manjung Municipal Council Stadium on Tuesday night.

Abu Bakar's players fought back from being a goal down in the first half with goals from Hafiz Ramdan and Giancarlo Rodrigues putting them ahead heading into the final quarter of the match. However, they could not hold on to the lead and PKNS eventually found their own equaliser through Kpah Sherman's penalty late in the match.

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"We saw the commitment of the players trying to get the three points tonight (Tuesday). We didn't achieve that we still got one point to go level with PJ City. A lot of times we have been punished late with penalty kicks. In the first half we wasted a lot of chances but in the second half when we brought on Fazrul Hazli, we saw that our attacking improved that we managed to take the lead. Maybe luck wasn't with us.

"We didn't have three key players in Yashir Pinto, Fadhil Idris and Sukri Hamid with had a big impact on our game. The battle in the bottom is very interesting. The last four matches will be very important. Every team has a chance but I'm confident that we can still be safe," said Abu Bakar after the match.

After Tuesday's round of matches, Felda are sitting in 12th place with 12 points while Kuala Lumpur are in 10th with 14 points but crucially both still have five matches left to play. PKNP are in 11th place with 14 points but only have four matches left in their schedule. 

But what Abu Bakar will have on his side is the direct matches against both Felda and Kuala Lumpur to come that could help decide their Super League fate, on top of matches against Kedah and Melaka.

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