Kedah has surged to the top of the Super League table after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Pahang at the Darul Aman Stadium.
Ken Ilso with a brace along with Baddrol Bakhtiar and 61st minute substitute Farhan Roslan scoring for Kedah while Matheus Alves scored for the visitors
Right on the first minute, Baddrol with an ambitious attempt on the right wing near the halfway line by trying catch Wan Azraie off his line, but the keeper was able to catch it.
It took more than 10 minutes later for the next chance to come and it belonged to the visitors when Syamim Yahya’s free-kick from the right finds Kiko Insa who headed well over.
On the 16th minute, Liridon Krasniqi passed the ball to Sandro Mendonca, who shoots from outside the box, but it goes well wide.
While both sides were able to defend well, they have trouble to break down each other’s resistance. With the match yearning for more chances, one finally came courtesy of Syazwan Zainon on the 37th minute.
The left-winger was able to beat two defenders to continue his run inside the box and somehow, he shoots straight at Afif Amiruddin despite having space.
Pahang had the next chance as Mohamadou Sumareh finds space on the right after making a run to win the ball, however Ifwat Akmal was equal to the Sumareh’s shot.
After Heo Jae-Won’s foul on Ken Ilso just outside the box by the right, Sandro took the free-kick and it was well saved by Azraie with the ball on-target.
A minute later just before half-time, a fine passing play between Ilso and Liridon finds Baddrol on the right with good amount of space took a touch before he places his shot with power to put Kedah in the lead heading into the break.
After the restart, Pahang looked livelier, but Kedah could’ve doubled their lead when Baddrol’s through pass found Ilso running on the right, but his effort went over.
As the game goes on, it was all Kedah as they had most of the ball, trying to penetrate Pahang’s box and it finally paid off on the 67th minute.
Ilso was able to time his run well on the right to avoid being offside in order to collect Liridon’s pass and his shot went into the net despite Azraie getting a touch on the ball.
Pahang though could’ve pulled one back in style on the 72nd minute when Matthew Davies crossed for Bright Dike, who attempted a bicycle kick. Unfortunately, it went just wide.
Three minutes later, Kedah are 3 goals up when Sandro’s corner found Liridon, who headed the ball down for Farhan to shoot as the Pahang players failed to close him down.
Pahang did get a consolation goal just before injury time when Sumareh’s smart backheel pass found Alves who was able to shrug off substitute Amirul Hisyam with a great finish from the right side of the box just before injury time.
But Kedah weren’t finished yet. Ilso was able to restore Kedah’s three-goal margin deep into injury time when he got ahead of Jae-Won to meet substitute Fakri Saarani’s pass as the Danish international finished with style and earned Kedah a well deserved win.
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