Just A Few Things: Pahang Vs. Perak

Credit: MFL

Perak Made Pahang Pay

Given the way the game is going, you wouldn’t expect Perak to actually comeback from a rather big deficit as they haven’t troubled Pahang enough. But magically, they were able to nick a point under the trunks of Tok Gajah with a spectacular turnaround from 3-0 down to 3-3.

Pahang though will be left to rue two great chances in the second half to score a fourth goal and make the points safe. Firstly, it was R. Dinesh who should’ve got his second goal of the night when he made a run towards the far post unmarked and somehow blazed it over from close range, Then, young substitute Nur Izzat Che Awang could only hit the post from a tight angle with around 15 mins after Perak keeper Hafizul Hakim spilled a cross.

Nevertheless, take nothing away from Perak. Three brilliant well-taken goals (Albeit one of them was rather fortunate) resulted in a draw as the Bos Gaurus retained 2nd place for now ahead of a mouthwatering encounter with Kedah next week who are just behind them and could take 2nd themselves if they win against Melaka tomorrow.

Sharif & Also A Deputy

When it comes to being a sheriff, he must also have a deputy to help assist him capture outlaws. In this context, a sheriff has to get a goal while the deputy would help assist in playing those passes… Make sense, right? No? Ok, we’ll move on from the bad analogy.

In this case, Nik Sharif Hassefy is not just a sheriff, but also a deputy as he provided a goal and an assist following a good night out at the Darul Makmur Stadium. The tenacious winger was the provider for the first goal when he laid the low cross for Dinesh at the far post for the makeshift left-winger to put the ball away.

Sharif then cheekily beat Perak left-back Rafiuddin Rodin with a neat & deft touch following Nor Azam Azih’s brilliant long ball. With the ball rolling down the right half-space and into the box, Sharif immediately slammed the ball into the roof of the net. He was subbed off around 66 minutes with the score at 3-1 and it was almost a good night out for him. Almost because, well, Pahang didn’t hold on to their lead in the end.

Penetrating A High Line

Perak deployed a high defensive line, but not too high. But this was a factor in why Perak was in trouble in the first place. The high line was usually exploited by Pahang thanks to their pacy wingers and their somewhat direct football. Nik Sharif & Faisal Abdul Halim, who would also tuck in on the left half-space as he started just behind Ivan Carlos, would try to time their runs to perfection.

Pahang was also helped by a combo of how easy Perak got drawn towards their attackers and caught napping. This allowed their other attackers to make the runs behind them. Some of those runs yielded the results Pahang wanted as all three of those goals were the products of the runs made by Sharif who scored & assisted and then Faisal Abdul Halim breaking through the defensive line to play a low cross for Ivan Carlos to get the third goal, though there is the suspicion of offside.

A Magical Parti

If it weren’t for a certain winger’s ferocious ambition to make a shot, Perak wouldn’t be able to kick-start the comeback trail. The rocket trails left by winger J. Partiban perhaps can still be felt as it was his two searing strikes that helped Perak to salvage something from deep within. Only a few minutes after the restart, Partiban cut outside from the right and he launched a beautiful curler with his left foot and into the far post. No keeper was going to get anything from that. Try to name one if you can.Then into injury time, following half-clearance of a free-kick, Partiban launched a first-time volley from just outside the box. The shot rattled the bar, but it hit the back of Helmi and into the net. Partiban was the spark that Perak needed to claw their way back as a point was saved.

Eky’s At It Again

In all honesty, Shahrel Fikri (AKA Eky) looked labored in this match as he didn’t get many sniffs to pounce around the Pahang box as he would’ve liked. He did have two promising free-kicks, but he saw both of them go just over.

Despite having an indifferent game, the striker still got on the scoresheet. And he took his chance so well. Substitute Adib Ra’op delivered a cross from the left and found Eky. With some space to work, Eky took a touch and was able to get a shot into the net beyond Helmi’s reach. Questions though have to be asked on the Pahang defence on why they didn’t close him down enough.

Eky is now on ten goals this season, two in front of Terengganu’s Dominique Da Sylva. If Eky holds on to first place, he will be the first local player to finish as top scorer since 2011 where Abdul Hadi Yahya scored 20 goals for Terengganu.