Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) took a giant step towards retaining their Super League title after close rivals suffered defeats on Match Day 14 of the 2017 season. The Southern Tigers now hold a nine point lead over both Pahang and Kedah while there were no changes at the bottom of the table.
At Tan Sri Hj Hassan Yunos Stadium, JDT scored a goal in each half to claim all three points against bottom-placed Penang. Mohammed Ghaddar and Gonzalo Cabrera struck on either side of half time to help the home side to a comfortable 2-0 win. It is a winning start for new head coach Ulisses Morais who started with the trio of Ghaddar, Cabrera and Gabriel Guerra up front. Natxo Insa also made his debut bow in front of their home fans.
It was a completely different story up north at Darul Aman Stadium when Kedah suffered their first home defeat of the season in a thrilling 2-3 loss to Perak. Mehmet Durakovic's side scored through a Syazwan Tajuddin own goal, Nasir Basharuddin and GIlmar Filho to stay in 4th spot but reduced the gap to Kedah from six to three points. Sandro da Silva and Liridon Krasniqi notched the goals for the Red Eagles but they couldn't find enough overturn the result.
Over at Tun Abdul Razak Stadium, Felda United threw a spanner in Pahang's works, coming from behind to beat the Elephants 2-1. Mohamadou Sumareh had opened the scoring in the first minute for Pahang but Felda replied quickly through an Ifedaya Olusegun effort. The Fighters would go on to claim maximum points late in the match when returning import, Thiago Augusto struck from the penalty spot to be the match-winner.
At Shah Alam Stadium, PKNS FC needed a second half penalty conversion from captain Safee Sali to hold Melaka United to a 1-1 draw. The visitors had earlier taken the lead at the start of the second half through new signing, Felipe Souza. The point does neither side any favours and keep them in 10th and 11th position in the league table respectively. Tied on 12 points a piece, PKNS are only ahead by virtue of having a better goal difference.
There were goals galore at Selayang Stadium as Selangor came out triumphant against T-Team in a 4-2 win. Youngster Syahmi Safari netted twice as Francis Forkey Doe and Rufino Segovia added to the score which moved the Red Giants one spot up from sixth. Dilshod Sharofetdinov and Joseph Yannick replied for the visitors but the come back was too late to change the result. With the defeat, T-team stayed in 8th spot.
A later than usual kick-off at Sultan Mohammed IV Stadium saw the away side emerging with an impressive 2-0 win on the road. Demerson Costa and Mateo Roskam were the heroes for the Crocs as both added a goal a piece to their individual tally to take Sarawak up one spot in the standings. Kelantan's trouble continues with the defeat, even though they only dropped one spot from sixth before the start of the match.
