A Spicy Fatal-4-Way Promotion Race
Credit to the WWE & the editor
If there is anyone who wants their promotion race with a side of extra spicy sambal to go with it, your wish has come true. Sabah’s 2-1 win over UiTM FC away not only sealed the Premier League title for Sabah, but they also blew open the promotion race like a person blowing open the toilet after they can’t handle the said sambal.
As a result of that loss, UiTM has completely bottled their healthy lead and in danger of losing out of the final promotion spot after Negeri Sembilan & PDRM picked hugely important wins over Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) II & Kelantan respectively. Even Pulau Pinang themselves have a good shout. It’s a four-way race for one coveted promotion spot. Let’s see how the situation is for these teams.
UiTM
A current five-game winless run and a wretched home form where they only won twice (Against UKM & Sarawak) have contributed to UiTM FC’s downward spiral. Approaching midway through the season, they were strong contenders for the Premier League title itself, so it is amazing they’ve floundered so bad.
The goals have dried up, they’ve been performing below average and mentally coming from that Sabah match, they’ve not been urgent. It doesn’t help matters at all that this week is their rest week meaning that their promotion rivals have a chance to overtake them or close the gap despite leading the race oh so barely.
Therefore, they only have one match left to save their promotion hopes. And it so happens that their final matchday opponents happen to be the team breathing down on their necks, Negeri Sembilan.
How Can They Seal The Final Promotion Spot?
What they need to do on the last matchday depends on the result of the upcoming Negeri Sembilan/PDRM match. If Negeri Sembilan wins, all UiTM needs to do is to beat them and they’re going up. But they have to hope that Negeri Sembilan doesn’t beat PDRM by a huge (And I mean really huge margin), otherwise, their task would become much more complicated.
If PDRM beats Negeri, then UiTM would have to hope that Pulau Pinang does a massive favor. Because if PDRM wins both of their own matches, it doesn’t matter what UiTM do against Negeri Sembilan, they would miss out. If PDRM draw either of their games, than all UiTM has to do is beat Negeri and they get promoted via goal difference
Negeri Sembilan
Given their shambolic Super League relegation finish last year, expectations were cautious, even if they had appointed well-known head coach Mat Zan Mat Aris who was responsible for back-to-back promotions with Melaka United that lead them to where they are now.
There isn’t any clamour from a neutral standpoint about their chances of going up at least. But not only they are creeping up slowly, most of the situations leading up to the finish line is in their own hands. It starts this week when they face PDRM and then a final day visit to UiTM next weekend. The chances are there on a golden plate for Negeri Sembilan to get ahead of their rivals, all they need to do is to take them.
How Can They Seal The Final Promotion Spot?
It’s simple for Negeri Sembilan. Win against PDRM & UiTM and it will be a swift return to the Super League. Even if they draw against PDRM, all they need to do is to avoid defeat at UiTM and they would still go up, provided that the following happens: PDRM failing to win against Pulau Pinang, Pulau Pinang don’t win either of their remaining games or don’t close down Negeri Sembilan’s +7 GD lead over them if they do win both of them.
However, beat PDRM and they just need to not lose to UiTM without to worry about the Pulau Pinang/PDRM result.
PDRM
Not too far behind the two front-runners are Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM). They narrowed the gap to one point behind UiTM & Negeri Sembilan, having won 4 out of their last five games, including crucial wins against JDT II and UiTM. The hot form of new Nigerian attacker Uche Agba is one of the factors E. Elavarasan’s men are giving a good shout of going up. Not only that, they too have fate in their hands with Negeri Sembilan & Pulau Pinang coming up.
How Can They Seal The Final Promotion Spot?
Similar to Negeri Sembilan’s circumstances, if they win their both remaining matches, they are going up. A draw against Negeri Sembilan however would leave fate out of their hands.
If they do draw, they need to beat Pulau Pinang in the following game and hope UiTM/Negeri Sembilan ends up in a tie. Because while a Negeri Sembilan win will surely end PDRM’s hopes, a UiTM win will most likely see The Lion Troops be ahead of PDRM via goal difference unless there’s a crazy goal difference swing happening. Lose against Negeri, then it’s all over for them.
Pulau Pinang
Pulau Pinang must be cursing their luck that their rest week was the week that the whole promotion race became unpredictable. The brightside is that they still have an outside chance to take that coveted promotion spot. They have matches against last-placed Sarawak and PDRM coming up so they need their strike trip of Casagrande, Julian Bottaro and Ezequiel Aguero to fire whatever left they have to remain in the race. However, they need the other results involving their rivals to go their way too.
How Can They Seal The Final Promotion Spot?
Unlike the last two teams, they need to win both, especially against Sarawak, to keep their outside chance of promotion alive. Failure to do so against The Crocs would surely see them out of the running.
Even if they do win, they need to hope PDRM get the win over Negeri Sembilan. A PDRM win will give the chance for Pulau Pinang to tie on points with The Cops when they face each other on the last matchday and hopefully can overtake them via goal difference. But, they also need to hope that the UiTM/Negeri Sembilan match ends in a draw.
If Negeri Sembilan win over PDRM, than it’s all over for Pulau Pinang as they can’t close the 4-point gap with one match remaining, rendering their final match against PDRM a dead rubber.