Johor Darul Ta’azim (JDT) continued their unbeaten run in the Malaysia Super League (MSL) season after a thrilling 1-1 draw against Kedah at the Darul Aman Stadium earlier tonight.
The Red Hawks head coach Tan Cheng Hoe fielded a similar line-up to the one that featured in the Superbest Power FA Cup victory over The Southern Tigers last Saturday, with only one exception — Abdul Halim Saari replacing Sandro da Silva behind Carlos Eduardo. Ismail Ibrahim took charge of the away side tonight as Mario Gomez is down with a fever.
The Malaysia Premier League (MPL) champions stunned everyone in the stadium when team captain Baddrol Bakhtiar opened the scoring as early as the 59th second of the game. The one-team player was unmarked in the penalty box as he tapped in Farhan Roslan’s cross.
The 2015 AFC Cup winners immediately responded when Juan Martin Lucero dribbled four players before attempting a shot from outside the box, which was comfortably saved by Farhan Abu Bakar on the 3rd minute. A couple of minutes later, Marcos Antonio was close to equalizing but Farhan Abu Bakar was ever-present in parrying the ball out for a corner.
Things became from bad to worse for The Southern Tigers as S. Kunanlan was forced to leave the pitch after suffering an injury, and he was replaced by Jasazrin Jamaluddin.
Jorge Pereyra Diaz then blasted a shot from distance on the 19th minute of the encounter but the former Harimau Muda A goalkeeper stopped it from going in the back of the net.
The match was temporarily stopped for a few minutes due to a number of scuffles between both sides. Kedah striker Carlos Kahe deliberately kicked out at Singaporean midfielder Hariss Harun before Jorge Pereyra Diaz was caught play-acting by the man in grey.
The atmosphere in Alor Setar intensified but the tempo of the game dropped when an injured Farhan Roslan was subbed off for Syafiq Ahmad, before Amri Yahyah replaced Amirulhadi Zainal ten minutes from time for struggling to cope with the pace of the game.
The tables turned when Jorge Pereyra Diaz was brought down in the penalty box by a trailing leg from Bang Seung-Hwan on third minute of additional time. Juan Martin Lucero, who has been in fine form, stepped up from the spot and scored his 11th goal in all competitions.
The second half kicked off and it was almost a complete déjà vu of the first half as Baddrol Bakhtiar received a pass from Carlos Kahe before placing the ball just above the crossbar.
Jorge Pereyra Diaz almost took the lead for the The Southern Tigers when the ex-Independiente man made a brilliant run before lashing a shot at goal, which was saved by Farhan Abu Bakar. Team captain Safiq Rahim whipped in a great free-kick a few minutes later but the Kedah goalkeeper’s outstanding save ensured that the league match stay level.
The Argentinian forward came close again as his shot was saved yet again by Farhan Abu Bakar, right before Juan Martin Lucero pounced on the rebound which hit the post. The new signing from Independiente could have finished the game off before full-time when Pereyra Diaz’s cross found him in the penalty box but he did not get enough power on his shot.
The referee blew the full-time whistle to indicate a point each to both teams.
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