Kedah’s hopes of claiming three points on home turf were dealt with a late blow as Penang produced a late comeback to claim a draw.
Tan Cheng Hoe opted to shuffle his team line-up, with Sandro being dropped to the bench. Carlos Kahe spearheaded their attack, with Liridon Krasniqi in midfield. Manzoor on the other hand, fielded all his foreign players, hoping to seal a win in his debut match.
Penang kicked-off the match with an immediate attack, though it did not materialize. Cheng Hoe’s men responded by immediately increasing the tempo, resulting in two great opportunities inside Penang’s box. Fortunately for the away side, their defenders did enough to clear the danger.
But Kedah eventually broke the deadlock on the 24th minute. Muhammad Syafiq did well on the right flank, before he threaded a fine ball to Liridon Krasniqi. The Kosovan immediately fired home to put Kedah 1-0 ahead on the night.
However, Kedah’s joy was short-lived as Penang equalized merely minutes after that. This time around, it was Matias Cordoba, who found the back of the net with a low-drive, after being assisted by Faiz Subri.
The only other significant attempt of the first half came from Osas Saha, whose thunderous attempt missed the target by a little bit.
After the break though, Penang began showing more desire on the field. They displayed great interplay in the first few minutes of the second half, pushing Kedah into the own half. On the 57th minute, Brent Griffiths rattled into Liridon, and the Kosovan was visibly unhappy with it. But the confrontation was eventually settled, thanks to the match official.
But just as Penang were looking to push and seize the lead, Kedah managed to strike through Liridon Krasniqi, for the second time. Yet again, Muhammad Syafiq provided a brilliant assist.
Kedah responded by bringing on Sandro da Silva, and he almost scored on the 59th minute. His free-kick though, could not find the target. The Panthers immediately replied with a counter-attack, though the threat was eventually nullified by Cheng Hoe’s men.
Determined to find the equalizer, Osas Saha unleashed a strike on the 85th minute, though t was safely parried away by Farhan. From the resulting corner, Penang found the equalizer through Darwira Sazan, with Farhan being unable to save his header.
With only minutes left on the clock, Kedah increased their tempo, and pushed upfront in search of the winning goal. Liridon almost pulled it off, if not for Darwira, who produced a goal-line clearance to keep the match 2-2, as Manzoor’s stint got off to a reasonably positive start.
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