Fernando Marquez, Johor Darul Ta'zimJohor Southern Tigers

JDT inched closer to 5th title, Pahang survived a scare

JDT swatted the title challenge of Perak after emerging victorious in a 2-0 win at Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium on Saturday. The home side got off to a great start after Leandro dos Santos was adjudged to have grabbed hold of Fernando Marquez inside the penalty box in the 4th minute of the match.

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The JDT new signing confidently step up to convert the penalty and earn plenty of credit with the home fans in his debut outing. Perak did come back strongly and had a couple of chances to score but profligacy in front of goal from the likes of Gilmar Filho and Wander Luiz put paid to their hopes of coming back into the game.

As the visitors fizzled out in the second half, JDT capitalised on the swing of match to find the second goal which put the contest to bed. Departing striker Jorge Santos Silva finally left his mark on the league after he latched onto Hazwan Bakri's pass to finish off a wonderful move in the 84th minute to give JDT all three points.

Over at Perak Stadium, Pahang came from behind to claim an important 1-2 win over PKNP FC that moved them up to second place in the Super League standings. Abu Bakar Fadzim's side had started well and opened the scoring through Ritus Krjauklis after only two minutes played.

But Dollah Salleh's men produced a spirited second half performance to reverse the tie. Mohamadou Sumareh was the first to pounce, his towering header in the 74th minute took full advantage of Asyraaf Omar misjudging the flight Nor Azam Azih's freekick.

Then in the second minute of added time, came the moment of the match. Substitute Faisal Abdul Halim took a ball cleanly at the end of PKNP's penalty box, proceeded to beat two players before slamming home an unstoppable low grounder to clinch Pahang's 7th win of the campaign.

Meanwhile at KLFA Stadium in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur's 3-0 win over Terengganu FC came because of a horror showing from the visiting goalkeeper. Wan Azraei Teh had a match to forget as he was culpable for the concession of all three goals on the night.

Paulo Josue's free kick late in the first half was fumbled by Wan Azraei, which allowed Zhafri Yahya the simplest of tap-ins. Things didn't improve in the second half as Wan Azraei failed to get to Josue's low cross in the 46th minute and Guilherme de Paula was left with the easiest task of putting the ball into an empty net.

After two assists, Josue finally put his name on the score sheet with a free kick effort in the 81st minute. Wan Azraei completely flapped at Josue long and high free kick to seal a night of embarassment for him. The win sees Terengganu lose the chance to leapfrog over Kedah in the standings.

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